Has the volume(音量)in a restaurant ever nude you finish your meal early? If so, you're not alone. Restaurants handle diners in various ways to influence food choices and consumption, from lighting to menu to server presentation. Unfortunately for those headache-prone restaurant goers, some places also choose to turn up the tunes and the background noise.
Chef Mario Batali is often blamed for the phenomenon of ultra-loud or noisy restaurants in the 1990s, when he decided to flood the dining room with the same loud tunes he was playing in his kitchen. And other chefs followed suit. Some restaurateurs felt a "livelier" atmosphere encouraged more customers, but a side "benefit" was quicker table turnover, thus increasing the number of people who could dine in a specific evening.
A 1985 study out of Fairfield University looked at how chewing speed varied according to the type of music being played. Although the volume level was kept the same for both musical situations, it's important to note that fast-tempo(节奏)music often gives the impression of being louder than slower music.
"A significant increase in the number of bites per minute was found, and the effect was largest for fast music," the researchers wrote in the study. So, the faster, louder music gets people to down their food more quickly, relieving the table for future customers.
There're opinions about whether or not this is a sound practice. "A restaurant that places profit above dining experience often plays loud music with a fast tempo that puts diners under pressure to eat more quickly, even if that means they're less able to enjoy their meal," writes Dr. Neel Burton in Psychology Today, adding that loud, fast music reduces appetite.
What's more, some would-be repeat diners will shy away for fear of another ultra-loud meal. The non-profit group Action on Hearing Loss found in a 2016 survey of nearly 1,500 people that 91% of those who view a restaurant as too noisy would choose not to return.
1.Why did some bosses of the restaurants favour loud music?
A.It might help attract more customers.
B.It was the favorite kind of music of them.
C.It made the restaurants softer and sweeter.
D.It could increase the popularity of their restaurants
2.What plays the most important role in the effect of music on diners?
A.Its content. B.Its length.
C.Its speed. D.Its quality.
3.What is Dr. Neel Burton's attitude towards flooding restaurants with noisy music?
A.Doubtful. B.Disapproving.
C.Positive. D.Uncaring
4.What could be a suitable title for the text?
A.What People Think of Loud Restaurants
B.Are Customers Made to Eat Quickly?
C.Why Loud Restaurants Are Popular Today
D.Does Loud Music Really Benefit Restaurants?
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
This may sound like a joke about a lazy person's dream job. Earn big money by staying in bed and watching TV. But this is really happening, and it's a project of NASA and two European space agencies the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the Cologne-based German Aerospace Center and the European Space Agency. It's called Artificial Gravity Bed Rest Study, aimed at studying how the body adapts to weightlessness in space.
Scientists are seeking 12 women to spend two full months in bed in the fall at a German lab, plus an additional month there for preparation and recovery. The first 12 test subjects, all men, already have started the study.
Participants spend two entire months in bed and remain lying down even to do everyday things like eating, drinking and exercising. They also answer nature's call and shower, but it's unclear from the NASA website how those tasks are accomplished in bed.
"Daily routine showering, getting dressed, eating, exercising takes much time when you cannot stand up to do them," says the website, adding that there is "continuous data collection", including blood pressure, heart rate, nutrient absorption and also the participants' feelings. Study subjects will spend the 60 days with their heads tilted(倾斜)down six degrees, which imitates(模仿)conditions in space.
Participants are encouraged to pass the time by watching TV, taking online courses, reading and any other activities they can perform while lying down alone in bed to relieve what could be boredom. Family and friends are allowed to visit.
The high $ 18,500 payment for two months of lazing about is probably a major motivation for people willing to go through something this extreme. However, if you're an American who really needs the money, you probably can't afford it. Candidates need to travel to Cologne four times at their own expense for the employment process between April and July. Plus, they need strong German-speaking skills. Also participants need to be nonsmokers between ages 24 and 55, in good health, with normal body weight.
1.What are participants expected to do during the study?
A.Report their feelings regularly. B.Complete their daily routines in bed.
C.Keep their bodies tilted down six degrees. D.Record their physical responses every day.
2.What data about the participants will the researchers collect?
A.The changes in their weight. B.Their behaviors to weightlessness.
C.The ways they do their daily things. D.Their physical and mental reactions
3.What will be a challenge for the participants?
A.The language skills they need. B.The difficulty meeting family.
C.The possibility that they feel dull. D.The slow discovery of their health.
4.The requirements for potential participants are .
A.challenging for Americans B.tailored to thin persons
C.easy for the youth to satisfy D.suitable for most people
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
Golden Gate Bridge
Located in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge started in the year 1933 to connect the San Francisco Peninsula with Marin County. It was finally thrown open to public traffic in 1937. It cost $25.7 million in the construction. Till the year 1957, the Golden Gate Bridge, at a length of 2,737 meters, was the longest suspension bridge in the world.
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is located in Brooklyn. It is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, having been opened in the year 1883. The length of the bridge is 1,843 meters. The bridge has been featured in several Hollywood movies.
George Washington Bridge
Also known as the Hudson River Bridge and the Columbus Bridge, the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee to Manhattan came into use in 1931 after a construction period of almost 4 years. It is a two level suspension bridge that cost about $52 million to build.
Mackinac Bridge
This is the third biggest suspension bridge in the world at a length of 8,038 meters. The architect of this bridge was Dr. David B. Steinman, who directed the construction of the bridge which started in the year 1954 and opened to the public in 1958. People using this bridge are charged a certain amount of money.
Navajo Bridge
Located in Arizona, this bridge crosses the Colorado River and is almost 250 meters long. The construction of this bridge started in the year 1927, ending two years later, costing $390,000. In the 1990s, a second bridge was built which was opened to the public in 1994. The first bridge is now used only by pedestrians.
1.What do we know about the Golden Gate Bridge?
A.It consists of two bridges.
B.It costs the least of the five bridges.
C.It is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
D.It takes about 4 years to complete the construction.
2.Which of the following bridges was built the earliest?
A.Golden Gate Bridge.
B.Brooklyn Bridge.
C.George Washington Bridge.
D.Navajo Bridge.
3.What will you do if you drive across Mackinac Bridge?
A.Have to pay some money.
B.Use the second bridge.
C.Cover nearly 250 meters.
D.See the statue of Dr. David B. Steinman.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
I remember the day when I first learned to ride a bike. It was a frightening, yet fun experience. My granddad was the one who taught me and he helped me when I got hurt. The first time I got on a bike, I had no idea what I was doing, and just about everything went wrong. My granddad told me to just put my feet on the pedals and start pedaling (骑自行车). He also told me he would hold onto the back of the bike the whole time, yet he didn’t.
As soon as I started trying to balance myself, he let go. I happened to look back just then. I was scared, to death that I was going to fall and hurt myself. When I was scared, my mind went blank from pedaling, and I just wanted off. I forgot how to use the brakes (车闸) and fell right off the bike. My granddad kept encouraging me to get up and try again, and after about 15 minutes, 1 finally stopped crying, got up and tried again.
As soon as I started pedaling again, my pants got caught in the chain, and I fell flat on my face and hit my nose. Since that happened t my granddad decided to call it a day and try again the next morning. The next morning I woke up bright and early, and was very eager to try to ride my bike. My nose felt better, so I wasn’t that afraid of falling anymore.
Though I knew there were a lot of difficulties on the way to mastering the skills in riding a bike, I believed I could do well with my granddad’s help. After all, riding a bike was what I wanted to do eagerly.
1.How was the author when he was on the bike first?
A.He didn’t know where he would be going.
B.He thought balancing himself was easy.
C.He was nervous and didn’t know what to do next.
D.He put his feet on the pedals and started pedaling.
2.What does the underlined part in the passage mean?
A.Remember what happened this day.
B.Make the author feel happy.
C.Stop practicing bicycling.
D.Go on to ride a bike.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards his granddad?
A.Supportive. B.Grateful.
C.Indifferent. D.Negative.
4.Which of the following could be the title for the passage?
A.The Experience of My First Riding a Bike
B.The Difficulty I Met with My Granddad
C.The First Time I Got My Own Bike
D.The Great Moment When I Stayed with My Granddad
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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。每处错误仅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(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
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。
To offer a chance for our students to keep in touch with society, last Saturday our class was organized some meaningful social practice activities. We were divided into second groups. One group went to the crossings near our school, intending to helping the traffic policemen. The another group went to collect rubbishes in Hongxing Park. Meanwhile, we introduced some simply ways of environmental protection and remind people not to destroy the beauty of nature. It was the memorable day because our behavior received praise the public and we benefited a lot from these activities.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
Talking to yourself may seem a little shameful. According to the well-known saying, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, 1. Talking to ourselves, whether out loud or silently in our heads, is a valuable tool for thought.
Far from being mentally ill, self-talk allows us to plan what we are going to do, manage our activities, regulate our emotions and even create a description of our experience.2.
As children, according to the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, we use private speech to regulate our actions in the same way that we use public speech to control the behavior of others.3. Psychological experiments have shown that the private speech can improve our performance on tasks ranging from judging what other people are thinking to sorting images into categories. One recent study suggested that self-talk is most effective when we address ourselves in the second person, as “you” rather than “I”.
4. If you want proof, turn on the sports channel. You’re certain to see an athlete or two cheering themselves up with a bitter phrase or scolding themselves after a bad shot.
Conduct a dialogue with ourselves.5. The private speech seems to be a particularly good way of solving problems and working through ideas. The to-and-fro between different points of view means our thoughts can end up in expected places, just like a regular dialogue can, and might turn out to be one of the keys lo human creativity.
A.What is private speech?
B.Bui there is no need for embarrassment.
C.Psychologists refer to this as private speech.
D.Ask questions of the self and provide answers.
E.We do a lot of private speech when we are young.
F.As we grow older, we make the private speech become the way of blinking,
G.Although the private speech is effective, we never entirely put away the out-loud speech.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
Mary and her husband Dimitri _______ in the small village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Mary’s prize possessions was a little white _______ which her husband had given her. She kept it _______ to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every _______. One evening, however, the lamb _______. The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been _______.
When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened. Dimitri at once _______ to find the thief. He knew it would not be _______, in such a small village. After telling several of his friends about the _______, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had __________ acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately went to Aleko’s house and angrily __________ him of stealing the lamb. He told him he had better __________ it or he would call the police. Aleko didn’t __________ taking it and led Dimitri into his back yard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he __________, but his lamb was black.__________ of having acted so rudely, Dimitri __________ to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko’s house __________ the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour later, he was __________ to find that the little black lamb was almost __________. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been __________ clean by the rain!
1.A.traveled B.arrived C.lived D.worked
2.A.lamb B.dog C.cow D.horse
3.A.attached B.added C.tied D.applied
4.A.day B.hour C.week D.evening
5.A.was running B.was missing C.removed D.lost
6.A.killed B.sold C.stolen D.disappeared
7.A.put out B.came out C.made out D.set out
8.A.difficult B.formal C.true D.false
9.A.village B.people C.theft D.story
10.A.suddenly B.again C.already D.then
11.A.blamed B.argued C.accused D.charged
12.A.return B.refuse C.hand D.find
13.A.admit B.insist C.allow D.enjoy
14.A.told B.explained C.sighed D.talked
15.A.Convinced B.Informed C.Ashamed D.Robbed
16.A.acknowledged B.admired C.advocated D.apologized
17.A.before B.until C.after D.when
18.A.excited B.sad C.astonished D.disappointed
19.A.black B.colourful C.grey D.white
20.A.washed B.transformed C.turned D.dashed
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Zhong Nanshan, an 83-year old doctor 1. became a household name 17 years ago for “daring to speak” in the fight 2. SARS, is the public face of China’s effort to control a new strain of coronavirus.
Despite his 3. (advance) age, Zhong was appointed to lead the 4. (investigate) into the new virus, which has rattled(使发狂)millions of Chinese who are traveling for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. 5. (he) announcement on Monday that the virus could spread between humans ratcheted up(增加) 6. (worry) about the outbreak, 7. which Beijing has warned officials of public shame if they cover up any infections.
That marks a departure from 2003, 8. in an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, Zhong, a respiratory diseases specialist, gave media his candid(坦诚), pessimistic assessment of the severity of the SARS crisis.
Zhong was hailed for his integrity and 9. (remain) a public figure ever since, 10.(weight) in on public health issues such as air pollution and food safety.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假如你是李华，你的英国朋友Peter对中国的竹子非常好奇。请写一封电子邮件介绍竹子的短文。内容包括：
1．竹子的外貌特点：
2．竹子的作用：
3．竹子的象征意义。
注意：1．词数：100左右：
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析