According to a recent article in The Wall Str...

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, we might all be braggarts(大话王) in this competitive society addicted to social networking.

Take a close look at your social­networking sites. Do you like to post photos of yourself in restaurants to show others what an exciting life you have? Or do you like to write about how happily in love you are? Or perhaps you are of the subtle type who constantly complain about jobs but really just want to impress others with your important position.

According to the results of a series of experiments conducted by Harvard University neuroscientists(神经科学家), the reward areas of our brain——the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food ——are activated when we talk about ourselves. We devote between 30 to 40 percent of our conversation time to doing just that. Unfortunately, Bernstein says, some people can't tell the difference between sharing positive information that others might actually want to know and direct bragging. She suggests that bragging involves comparison, whether stated or implied.

“We are expected to be perfect all the time. The result is that more and more people are carefully managing their online images”. says Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal.

But the issue is not limited to the Internet. In a fiercely competitive job market we must sell ourselves on multiple platforms and show that we are better than others. In fact, we have become so accustomed to bragging that we don't even realize we are doing it, says Bernstein. This is harmful to our relationships and puts people off.

Bernstein talked to some experts who said that people brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention; to prove to ourselves we are doing fine and that people who said we would fail are wrong; or simply because we're excited when good things happen to us.

“Feel sorry for them, because they're doing this unconscious, destructive thing that won't help them in the long run，” said Professor Simian Valier, a research psychologist at Washington University.

1.The underlined word “subtle” in Para.2 is closest in meaning to “________”．

A．hidden　     B．apparent

C．outstanding　     D．simple

2.Which of the following is one of the features of braggarts?

A．They control conversation and only talk about themselves.

B．They know well how to share positive information.

C．They self­promote to stand out in their career.

D．They don't pay much attention to their online image.

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A．Braggarts make a good first impression but the effect decreases over time.

B．People who like bragging know what they are doing.

C．Braggarts always adopt comparison directly to show they are excellent.

D．They care much about the feelings of others when talking.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The Wall Street Journal recently published an excellent article penned by Wendy Bounds on a hot topic here at MNN: the air-purifying qualities of the common house plant. Given that the air inside your home can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside of it, making it clean with plants like peace lily (百合花) and asparagus fern (芦笋蕨) is an economical. artistically pleasing alternative to air purifiers. So it’s been acknowledged that a bunch of pretty putted houseplants can help you maintain a healthier home, but a smarter home?

That' s the question in light of a recent study published by the Journal of Environmental Psychology showing that the presence of plants in a room, particularly in an office environment, can shrink attention span (范围). Struggling directive attention (the kind of attention that takes effort) can be refreshed　 through exposure ho to naturalistic environments. Basically, taking a walk through the park can clear one’s head. But can a head be refreshed simply by being surrounded by houseplants?

To test their theory, the study’s authors rounded up a bunch of participants, put some of them in a mom with no plants and put others in a room with our plants placed around a desk, and put them all to the same series of tests. First was a Rearing Span Teat which involves reading a series of sentences aloud and remembering the Last word in each sentence. This task requires that you fluently switch between attention demanding tasks: from rending and memorizing at one moment. to writing and recalling at the next. Next came a proofreading task fallowed by another Reading Span Test.

The results? Participants working in the room with the plants improved their performance from the first Reading Span Test to the second while those working in the room lacking in greenery did not. Consequently, the benefits of working among plants is indeed evident.

1.What do we know from the first paragraph?

A.Staying indoors can help avoid the poorer air outdoors.

B.Houseplants can Function as beautiful cheap air purifiers.

C.Planting polled flowers as decorations is very interesting.

D.Air purifiers are the most effective to create a healthy home.

2.What does the underlined part in paragraph 2 probably refer to?

A.Focus one’s attention. B.Disturb one’s attention.

C.weaken one’s attention. D.Turn one’s attention away.

3.What does the test prove?

A.Working in nature helps increase productivity.

B.Houseplants will be in great demand in our life.

C.Greenery creates healthier naturalistic atmosphere indoors.

D.Working among houseplants improves mental functioning.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A.Flowers: Grand Feast to Eyes B.Greenery: Effective Air-purifier

C.Houseplants: Visual Brain Food D.Potted Plants: Great! House-beautifier

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The Wall Street Journal recently published an excellent article penned by Wendy Bounds on a hot topic here at MNN: the air-purifying qualities of the common houseplant. Given that the air inside your home can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside of it, making it clean with plants like peace lily(百合花)and asparagus fern(芦笋蕨)is an economical, artistically pleasing alternative to air purifiers. So, it's been acknowledged that a bunch of pretty potted houseplants can help you maintain a healthier home, but a smarter home?

That's the question in light of a recent study published by the Journal of Environmental Psychology showing that the presence of plants in a room, particularly in an office environment, can shrink attention span(范围). Struggling directive attention (the kind of attention that takes effort) can be refreshed through exposure to naturalistic environments. Basically, taking a walk through the park can clear one's head. But can a head be refreshed simply by being surrounded by houseplants?

To test their theory, the study's authors rounded up a bunch of participants, put some of them in a room with no plants and put others in a room with four plants placed around a desk, and put them all to the same series of tests. First was a Reading Span Test, which involves reading a series of sentences aloud and remembering the last word in each sentence. This task requires that you fluently switch between attention demanding tasks: from reading and memorizing at one moment, to writing and recalling at the next. Next came a proof-reading task followed by another Reading Span Test.

The results? Participants working in the room with the plants improved their performance from the first Reading Span Test to the second while those working in the room lacking in greenery did not. Consequently, the benefits of working among plants is indeed evident.

1.What do we know from the first paragraph?

A.Staying indoors can help avoid the poorer air outdoors.

B.Houseplants can function as beautiful cheap air purifiers.

C.Planting potted flowers as decorations is very interesting.

D.Air purifiers are the most effective to create a healthy home.

2.What does the underlined part in paragraph 2 probably refer to?

A.Focus one's attention. B.Disturb one's attention.

C.Weaken one's attention. D.Turn one's attention away.

3.What does the test prove?

A.Working in nature helps increase productivity.

B.Houseplants will be in great demand in our life.

C.Greenery creates healthier naturalistic atmosphere indoors.

D.Working among houseplants improves mental functioning.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A.Flowers: Grand Feast to Eyes B.Greenery: Effective Air-purifier

C.Houseplants: Visual Brain Food D.Potted Plants: Great House-beautifier

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项，选项中有两项为多余选项。

A new article in The Wall Street Journal has given us a deeper understanding of the relationship between what we earn and how we feel.1.Well, not true. People with higher incomes are happier than those who struggle to get by. To put a smile on your face with your money, you need to spend it strategically. Here are some ways to better spend your bank notes.

Buy experiences, not material things.

2.People think that experiences are only going to provide temporary happiness, but they actually provide both more happiness and more lasting value that help you better manage your life.

3.

Anything you buy, including a product you think is special will become just another object. Buying small things can give us frequent small pleasures that are different each time they occur, as they forestall（抢先）adaptation.

4.

It’s also important to consider how what you’re buying will affect how you spend your time. For example, you may have to spend a very long time on the road if you get a big house in the suburb, which will totally lower overall life satisfaction.

Try giving it away.

Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, found that in countries as diverse as Canada, South Africa and Uganda, giving away money consistently made people happier.5.

A. Buy what you like.

B. Be sure to buy time, too.

C. More money, more smiles?

D. Money can’t buy happiness, right?

E. Buy lots of little things, rather than one big thing.

F. With no much money to spare, people tend to stick to material goods.

G. This was even true for people who were relatively poor themselves.

高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.

To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.

Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.

For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.

The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?

1.What is the recent study mainly about?

A.Food safety. B.Movie viewership.

C.Consumer demand. D.Eating behavior.

2.What does the underlined word “beanpoles” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A.Big eaters. B.Overweight persons.

C.Picky eaters. D.Tall thin persons.

3.Why did the researchers hire the actor?

A.To see how she would affect the participants.

B.To test if the participants could recognize her.

C.To find out what she would do in the two tests.

D.To study why she could keep her weight down.

4.On what basis do we “adjust the influence” according to the last paragraph?

A.How hungry we are. B.How slim we want to be.

C.How we perceive others. D.How we feel about the food.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

An article published recently in the scientific journal Nature is shedding new light on an important, but so far little has been appreciated, aspect of human evolution. In this article, Professors Dennis Bramble, and Daniel Lieberman suggest that the ability to run was a decisive factor in the development of our species. According to the two scientists, humans possess a number of anatomical（人体结构的）features that make them surprisingly good runners. “We are very confident that strong selection for running，which came at the expense of the historical ability to live in trees-was helpful in the origin of the modern human body form,” says Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah.

Traditional thinking up to now has been that the upright body form of modern humans has come about as a result of the ability to walk, and that running is simply a by-product of walking. Furthermore, humans have usually been regarded as poor runners compared to such animals as dogs, horses or antelopes. However, this is only true if we consider fast running over short distances. Even Olympic athlete can hardly run as fast as a horse can gallop, and can only keep up a top speed for fifteen seconds or so. Horses and antelopes, on the other hand, can run at top speed for several minutes, clearly outperforming us in this respect. But when it comes to long-distance running, humans do astonishingly well. They can maintain a steady pace for miles, and their overall speed compares favorably with that of horses or dogs.

Bramble and Lieberman examined twenty-six anatomical features found in humans. One of the most interesting of these is the nuchal ligament（颈背的韧带）. When we run, it is this ligament that prevents our head from pitching back and forth or from side to side. Therefore, we are able to run with steady heads held high. The nuchal ligament is not found in any other surviving primates（灵长类动物）, although the fossil（化石）record shows that Homo erectus, an early human species that walked upright, much as we do, also had one. Then there are our Achilles tendons（跟腱）at the backs of our legs, which have nothing to do with walking. When we run, these tendons behave like springs, helping to push us forward. Furthermore, we have low, wide shoulders, virtually disconnected from our skulls (the bony part of the head), another anatomical adaptation which allows us to run more efficiently.

But what evolutionary advantage is gained from being good long-distance runners? One assumption is that this ability may have permitted early humans to obtain food more effectively. “What these features and fossil facts appear to be telling us is that running evolved in order for our direct ancestors to compete with other carnivores (animals that eat meat) for access to the protein needed to grow the big brains that we enjoy today.” says Lieberman.

1.We can learn from the passage that the human ability to run _______.

A. was only recently described in a scientific journal

B. played an important part in human evolution

C. was considered more natural than the ability to live in trees

D. contributed to the form of human language

2.According to the second paragraph, humans _______

A. are better runners than most other animals

B. are not good at running short distances

C. compare unfavorably with horses and dogs

D. are poor long-distance runners

3.It appears that the nuchal ligament _______.

A. enables us to run with steady heads

B. is found in modern primates only

C. prevents the head from being held high

D. is a unique feature of carnivores

4.The passage does NOT tell us that _______

A. early humans had an advantage in obtaining food thanks to the running ability

B. fossils help us better understand human evolution.

C. our Achilles tendons are an adaptation for running efficiently

D. big brains may have been evolved for running long-distance

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Bill has been working on The Wall Street Journal for eight years and never once__________late to work.

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Learning to Run

An article published in the scientific journal Nature discusses an important aspect of human evolution. According to Bramble and Lieberman, Professors at the University of Utah, humans possess a number of features that make them surprisingly good runners. “We are confident that the selection for running was important in the origin of the human body form,” says Bramble.

Traditional thinking has been that humans are poor runners compared to such animals as horses. However, this is only true if we consider running at high speed, especially over short distances. Even an athlete can hardly run as quickly as a horse does, and can only keep up a top speed for 15 seconds or so. But when it comes to long-distance running, humans will do astonishingly well. They can keep a steady pace for many kilometres, and their speed is at least at the same level with that of horses.

Bramble and Lieberman examined 26 parts of human bodies. One of the most interesting of these is the nuchal ligament (韧带). When we run, it is this ligament that prevents our head from moving back and forth or from side to side. Therefore, we are able to run with steady heads, held high. Then there are Achilles tendons at the backs of our legs, forming the mechanical links between the muscles to the bones. They act like strong strings and help to push us forward when we run. Besides, we have low, wide shoulders, a development which allows us to run more effectively. Add to this our light forearms, which swing in co-operation with the movement of our legs to assist balance, and one begins to appreciate the point that Bramble and Lieberman are trying to make.

But what advantage is gained from being good long-distance runners? One theory is that this ability may have permitted early humans to obtain food more effectively. Some scientists guess that early humans may have run after animals for great distances to make them tired before killing them. Running would also have shown another advantage: early humans might have eaten the meat left over from a kill by other large animals. They may have been warned of the existence of a freshly killed animal by vultures (秃鹰), and the faster they got to the scene of the kill, the better.

“Research on the history of human ability of running has traditionally been controversial,” says Lieberman. “At the very least, I hope this theory will make many people have second thoughts about how humans learned to run and why we are built the way we are.”

1.In Paragraph 2, the author mainly tells us that 　　　　　　　　 .

A. humans are poor runners compared to horses

B. humans are good runners over long distances

C. humans may run at high speed for a short time

D. humans can keep a constant pace when running

2.We can learn from Paragraph 3 that 　　　　　　　　 .

A. tendons are a successful adaptation for running

B. strong muscles and bones keep running effective

C. the shape of shoulders affects the position of heads

D. humans can run faster if they have longer forearms

3.What conclusion is drawn about early humans?

A. They followed birds to avoid danger.

B. They were unable to kill large animals.

C. They developed their big brains for running.

D. They evolved running due to the need for hunting.

4.What does Lieberman mean by saying the underlined sentence?

A. Proving that humans run in a comfortable position.

B. Informing people of the reasons why humans may run.

C. Expressing appreciation of the theory of human evolution.

D. Making people reconsider the idea about our body structure.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

He has written two articles for the journal，one to be published in this issue，the other to___________ in the next.

A. turn out B. come out

C. bring out. D. leave out

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The Wall Street Journal reports several research studies conducted over the past few years show a persons personality changes _____ time.

A. in　　　　　　 B. on　　　　　 C. without　　　　 D. over

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析