You feel especially smart and funny when talking to a particular person, only to feel hopelessly unintelligent and tongue-tied in the presence of another.
Experiments show when people report feeling comfortable with a conversational partner, they are judged by those partners and by observers as actually being more witty (机智的）。
It's just one example of the powerful influence that social factors can have on intelligence. As parents, teachers and students settle into the school year, this work should encourage us to think about intelligence not as a “lump of something that's in our heads,” as the psychologist Joshua Aronson puts it, but as “a transaction among people.”
Mr. Aronson, an associate professor at New York University, has been a leader in investigating the effects of social forces on academic achievement. Along with the psychologist Claude Steele, he identified the phenomenon known as “stereotype (刻板印象） threat.” Members of groups believed not to be academically good score much lower on tests when reminded in advance of their race or gender.
The pair's experiments in the 1990s concluded that the performance of these students suffered because they were worried about confirming negative stereotypes about their group.
Minorities aren't the only ones easily hurt by stereotype threat. We all are. A group of people especially confident about their mathematical abilities did worse on a math test when told that the experiment was intended to investigate “why Asians appear to perform better than other students on tests of math ability.”
And in a study published earlier this year in the journal Learning and Individual Differences, high school students did worse on a test of spatial (空间的） skills when told that males are better at solving spatial problems because of genetic differences between males and females. The girls were anxious about confirming assumptions about their gender, while the boys were anxious about living up to them.
The evolving literature on stereotype threat shows that performance is always social in nature. Even alone in an exam room, we hear a chorus of voices assessing, evaluating, passing judgment. And as social creatures, humans are strongly affected by what these voices say.
1.What does the underlined word “transaction” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A.Spatial reasoning skills. B.The ability to remember information.
C.Interaction between us and the environment. D.Passing on knowledge from teachers to students.
2.After being told males typically perform better than females in math, males are most likely to perform .
A.better than females B.the same as females
C.worse than usual D.worse than females
3.Which of the following “voices” in our head may influence performance on an exam?
A.“I am as prepared as I can be.”
B.“I am supposed to do well on this.”
C.“The testing room is different from my classroom.”
D.“I am solving the problems faster than the one sitting in front of me.”
4.How do stereotypes threaten our academic achievement?
A.Making us unintelligent. B.Reminding us of our weaknesses.
C.Limiting our spatial reasoning skills. D.Raising our anxiety level.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
You feel especially smart and funny when talking to a particular person, only to feel hopelessly unintelligent and tongue-tied in the presence of another.
Experiments show when people report feeling comfortable with a conversational partner, they are judged by those partners and by observers as actually being more witty (机智的）。
It's just one example of the powerful influence that social factors can have on intelligence. As parents, teachers and students settle into the school year, this work should encourage us to think about intelligence not as a “lump of something that's in our heads,” as the psychologist Joshua Aronson puts it, but as “a transaction among people.”
Mr. Aronson, an associate professor at New York University, has been a leader in investigating the effects of social forces on academic achievement. Along with the psychologist Claude Steele, he identified the phenomenon known as “stereotype (刻板印象） threat.” Members of groups believed not to be academically good score much lower on tests when reminded in advance of their race or gender.
The pair's experiments in the 1990s concluded that the performance of these students suffered because they were worried about confirming negative stereotypes about their group.
Minorities aren't the only ones easily hurt by stereotype threat. We all are. A group of people especially confident about their mathematical abilities did worse on a math test when told that the experiment was intended to investigate “why Asians appear to perform better than other students on tests of math ability.”
And in a study published earlier this year in the journal Learning and Individual Differences, high school students did worse on a test of spatial (空间的） skills when told that males are better at solving spatial problems because of genetic differences between males and females. The girls were anxious about confirming assumptions about their gender, while the boys were anxious about living up to them.
The evolving literature on stereotype threat shows that performance is always social in nature. Even alone in an exam room, we hear a chorus of voices assessing, evaluating, passing judgment. And as social creatures, humans are strongly affected by what these voices say.
1.What does the underlined word “transaction” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A.Spatial reasoning skills. B.The ability to remember information.
C.Interaction between us and the environment. D.Passing on knowledge from teachers to students.
2.After being told males typically perform better than females in math, males are most likely to perform .
A.better than females B.the same as females
C.worse than usual D.worse than females
3.Which of the following “voices” in our head may influence performance on an exam?
A.“I am as prepared as I can be.”
B.“I am supposed to do well on this.”
C.“The testing room is different from my classroom.”
D.“I am solving the problems faster than the one sitting in front of me.”
4.How do stereotypes threaten our academic achievement?
A.Making us unintelligent. B.Reminding us of our weaknesses.
C.Limiting our spatial reasoning skills. D.Raising our anxiety level.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
When you’re a parent to a young child, you spend a lot of time talking about feelings: about having to share, about being disappointed because you may not have a cookie instead of broccoli (绿花椰菜), about the great injustice of a parent pressing the elevator button before the child has a chance to.
And in a parenting culture that’s increasingly concerned with centering children’s needs above all else, mothers and fathers have become skillful at talking about their kids’ feelings while masking their own. But new research suggests that parents who hide their negative emotions are doing their children, and themselves harm.
A study published this month says that when parents put on a faux-happy (假开心) face for their kids, they do damage to their own sense of wellbeing and authenticity.
“For the average parent the findings suggest when they attempt to hide their negative emotion expression and overexpress their positive emotions with their children, it actually comes at a cost: doing so may lead parents to feel worse themselves,” researcher Dr Emily Impett, says.
It makes sense that parents often fall back on amping up (扩大) the positivity for the sake of their children—there are a lot of things in the world we want to protect our kids from. But children are often smarter than we expect and are quite in tune with what the people closest to them—their parents—are feeling.
There was a time about a year or so ago, for example, when I received some bad news over the phone; I was home with my four-year-old and so I did my best to put on a brave face. She knew immediately something was wrong though, and was confused.
When I finally let a few tears out and explained that Mom heard something sad about a friend, she was, of course, just fine. My daughter patted my shoulder, gave me a hug, and went back to playing. She felt better that she was able to help me, and the moment made a lot more sense to her emotionally than a smiling mom holding back sobs. I was glad that I could feel sad momentarily and not have to work hard to hide that.
Relaying positive feelings to your children when you don’t feel them is a move the researchers called high cost — that it may seem like the most beneficial to your child at the time but that parents should find other ways of communicating emotions that “allow them to feel true to themselves”.
But this is also about children seeing the world in a more honest way. While we will want to protect our children from things that aren’t age-appropriate or harmful, it’s better to raise a generation of kids who understand that moms and dads are people too.
1.What is the typical behavior of parents when they bring up their children?
A. Allowing their children chances to do things themselves.
B. Expressing their dissatisfaction with their children.
C. Hiding their true emotions from their children.
D. Sharing their favorite food with their children.
2. If parents put on a faux-happy face, _______.
A. their children will be protected
B. their children will be taken in
C. they will feel happy as a result
D. they will undergo worse feelings
3.The author mentioned the example of her daughter to illustrate ______.
A. children are not so clever as parents think
B. children can often understand parents’ true feelings
C. it’s meaningful for parents to always look positive
D. it’s necessary to expose children to harmful things
4. We can conclude from the passage that _______.
A. protecting children from age-inappropriate things is important
B. it makes sense for children to know their parents’ negative feelings
C. children will admire their parents more because of being protected
D. separation from negative feelings helps children see the world honestly
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
Digital technology — email and smart phones especially — have vastly improved workers' ability to be productive outside of a traditional office. Even so, most white-collar work still happens in an office. One reason is that, according to findings of a new survey (调查) of office workers conducted by Wakefield Research for the IT company Citrix, most bosses are doubtful about remote working. Half of the workers say their boss doesn't accept it and only 35 percent say it’s tolerated.
Skeptical bosses will likely have their doubts reinforced (加深) by the same survey, which shows that 43 percent of workers say they’ve watched TV or a movie while “working” remotely, while 35 percent have done housework，and 28 percent have cooked dinner.
It is true, however，that working at home makes people much more efficient (高效的)， because it allows workers to take care of annoying housework while still getting their jobs done. It’s much faster, for example, to shop for groceries at a quarter to three than to stand in line during the after-work rush.
The fact that such practices remain officially unaccepted reflects how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time worker to be supported by a full-time homemaker.
More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be missing a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of those survey participants who have worked remotely would rather give up some bonus in order to get even one day a week working from home. Under such circumstances, smart firms need to find ways to let their employees have enough flexibility to manage their time efficiently.
1.Why do some employers hesitate to allow remote working?
A. They fear losing control of their workers.
B. They want to stick to their routine practice.
C. They have little trust in modem technology.
D. They are used to face-to-face communication.
2.What seems to be most workers’ attitude toward remote working?
A. Doubtful. B. Favorable. C. Reserved. D. Disapproving.
3.What does the author suggest smart firms do?
A. Shorten their office hours.
B. Give employees a pay raise.
C. Adopt flexible work patterns.
D. Reduce their staff’s workload.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Digital technology — email and smart phones especially—have vastly improved workers' ability to be productive outside of a traditional office. Even so, most white-collar work still happens in an office. One reason is that, according to findings of a new survey (调查) of office workers conducted by Wakefield Research for the IT company Citrix, most bosses are doubtful about remote working. Half of the workers say their boss doesn't accept it, and only 35 percent say it's tolerated.
Skeptical bosses will likely have their doubts reinforced (加深) by the same survey, which shows that 43 percent of workers say they've watched TV or a movie while “working” remotely, while 35 percent have done housework，and 28 percent have cooked dinner.
It is true, however, that working at home makes people much more efficient (高效的), because it allows workers to take care of annoying housework while still getting their jobs done. It’s much faster, for example, to shop for groceries at a quarter to three than to stand in line during the after-work rush.
The fact that such practices remain officially unaccepted reflects how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time worker to be supported by a full-time homemaker.
More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be missing a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of those survey participants who haven't worked remotely would rather give up some bonus in order to get even one day a week working from home. Under such circumstances, smart firms need to find ways to let their employees have enough ability to change or be changed easily to suit a different situation to manage their time efficiently.
1.Why do some employers hesitate to allow remote working?
A. They are used to face-to-face communication.
B. They want to stick to their routine practice.
C. They have little trust in modem technology.
D. They fear losing control of their workers.
2.What seems to be most workers' attitude toward remote working?
A. Favorable. B. Doubtful. C. Reserved. D. Disapproving.
3.What does the author suggest smart firms do?
A. Shorten their office hours.
B. Give employees a pay raise.
C. Adopt flexible work patterns.
D. Reduce their staff’s workload.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
When we talk about stars ,especially women stars ,it seems that they are always young, pretty and own charming body shapes. But recently a Britain's Got Talent（英国达人）star Susan Boyle has changed our views absolutely.
Simon Cowell ,one of the judges of the talent show spoke of his shock over Ms Boyle's voice. "This lady camp up ,and I'm thinking, 'This will take five seconds and I can go to have a cup of tea'. That changed when she began to sing I Dreamed to Dream from Les Miserables. She knew we were going to have that reaction and just to see that look of satisfaction on her face through -it was one of my favorite moments," Cowell said.
The performance was posted on line and before long, the 47-year-old Scottish woman has been famous all over the world.
Speaking from her home in Scotland, Ms Boyle said that she hasn't thought of changing her appearance. She said that her friend helped her with make-up. "I mean, that's hardly a makeover," she added.Ms Boyle also spoke of the reason she first began to explore her vocal talents, "I was kind of slow at school, so getting like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and thus it built my confidence."
1.Susan Boyle is _________
A．a judge B．a reporter C．a beautiful D．a Scottish woman
2.Susan Boyle had a look of satisfaction on her face when she was singing because______.
A．she was confident of her singing
B．she was satisfied with the judges
C．she was pretty and in good shape
D．she sang the song I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables
3.According to the passage, which is NOT true?
A．It was the vocal talents that built Susan's confidence
B．Susan Boyle was not good at her lesson when at school.
C．Susan Boyle became famous because of her appearance.
D．Simon Cowell didn't think Susan Boyle a good singer at the first sight.
4.What can we learn from Susan Boyle's success
A．It's never too old to learn.
B．It's easier to succeed at the age of 47.
C．If you have a dream, try to make it come true!
D．If you are not able to study well, to be a singer instead.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Enjoying a funny comedy or reading some jokes will _____ your negative feelings and make you feel much better.
A.drive away B.put away C.give out D.put out
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
It’s hard not to feel cheated and over-charged when you receive unexpected roaming (漫游) charges while traveling abroad—whether they come from making phone calls or checking e-mails.
Jeff Gardner received an $ 11,000 bill from Verizon after spending four days in Jamaica. Before the trip, Mr. Gardner, who runs a fly-fishing business in Grayling, Michigan, said he called Verizon to find out what it would cost to use his cellphone for calls and his wireless card to check e-mails while in Jamaica. He said he was told that calls would be about $ 2 a minute and that there would be no extra charges for data as he was on an unlimited plan. The latter part turned out to be wrong.
“I don’t mind paying a fair amount for fair service, but $11,000 for four days is ridiculous,” said Mr. Gardner, who used his phone carefully and economically on the trip. He also tried to check and send e-mails using his wireless card, but quickly gave up after the e-mails didn’t go through. Still, his Verizon bill said more than 500,000 kilobytes (千字节) of data was delivered while he was in Jamaica, an amount Mr. Gardner said is 100 times what he normally uses in a month.
As travelers increasingly use smart phones abroad in the same way they do at home—to check e-mails, update Facebook and Twitter and pull up online maps—many are facing costly roaming fees, which providers charge when customers use their phones outside their service area. In fact, roaming charges have gotten so out of hand that the Federal Communications Commission has proposed a plan that would require wireless companies to send their customers a voice or text message when they are approaching their plan’s limit, when they have reached that limit and when they are starting to result in roaming fees.
1. Why did Jeff Gardner call Verizon before his trip to Jamaica?
A. To hand over his business.
B. To check his cellphone bill
C. To find out information about Jamaica.
D. To find out information about roaming charges.
2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Extra charges were made for Jeff Gardner’s data delivery.
B. Jeff Gardner’s calls were charged over $2 per minute.
C. Jeff Gardner’s plan turned out to be limited.
D. Jeff Gardner had difficulty delivering data abroad.
3.During the trip, Jeff Gardner______.
A. was careless with phone use
B. delivered no more data than at home
C. received quite poor e-mail services
D. frequently used his wireless card to send e-mails
4.What should wireless companies do according to the Federal Communications Commission?
A. Make customers know when they’re outside their service area.
B. Get customers informed when they’re near the limit of their plan.
C. Stop serving customers when they’ve reached their plan’s limit.
D. Limit some services to reduce the amount of roaming charges abroad.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读理解。
Whether you admit it or not, music improves our daily life and makes us feel easy, especially the music of Beethoven and Mozart. But can you believe that a school in England is using classical music to cut down students’ bad behavior?
The head teacher Brian Walker at the West Park School in Derby asks some students to stay behind after school on Fridays. He forces his students to listen to Mozart and other classical music. He also makes them copy his favorite poems and they have to watch educational videos.
Mr. Walker says his main aim is to stop noisy pupils causing trouble in class for students who want to study. He said the students staying behind were “not the smokers or drinkers, the truants (逃学生) or the people who are late for school…It’s those who have slowed the learning and teaching in class for everyone”. Mr. Walker said this was unacceptable, because it was making the rest of the students fail to focus their attention on their study.
Mr. Walker believes what he does reminds students that education is something to value. “It helps them see they are part of something bigger that will improve their life chances,” he said. The head teacher thinks students in fact learn from being kept behind after school. “Hopefully, I open their ears to an experience they don’t normally have and don’t want to have again, so it’s both educational and acts as a warning.”
Music has had success elsewhere in reducing bad behavior. In 2004, it reduced crime on London’s subway by 25 percent. Researchers from a Belfast university found it helped stop elephants’ bad behavior.
However, one West Park student called Kieran said, “An hour of Mr. Walker’s music is a real killer.”
1.Mr. Walker asks his students to listen to music to _______________.
A. make them rest after a day’s study
B. punish them for their bad behavior
C. get them to love arts gradually
D. reduce their bad behavior
2.A student who _____ may be left behind to listen to Mozart after class.
A. plays truant B. smokes in class
C. bothers others in class D. comes late for class
3.Why does Mr. Walker say some students’ bad behavior is unacceptable?
A. Because the rest of the students hate them.
B. Because they are wasting their life.
C. Because they are disturbing teachers.
D. Because they have a bad influence on the other students.
4.In the eyes of Mr. Walker, _____.
A. some students don’t realize education is valuable
B. all students can learn from music
C. music must be taught after class
D. students ought to love music
5.It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that _____.
A. the action Mr. Walker takes sometimes doesn’t really work as planned
B. Mr. Walker aims to tell students study is important
C. once music helped animals behave well
D. animals also like to listen to music
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Try your best to help the people when they are in trouble, _______you will feel pleased and happy.
A．unless B．or C．and D．But
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Expect everything to go wrong in advance, ___ you may feel quite so bad when it does.
A. as if B. and C. or D. so that
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析