Four habits of happy peopleWhile the recent r...

Four habits of happy people

While the recent research has shown that about 60 percent of our baseline (基本) level of happiness is probably genetically determined, it means 40 percent is under our control. You can’t go back and get new genes.1.. Here are the good habits of happy people.

·Spend time outside. If you can clock 20 minutes a day outside, studies show you’ll not only maintain a better mood, but your mind will be more open and you’ll improve your working memory. 2..

·Exercise regularly. All exercise releases endorphins (脑内肽) in your brain, and if you work out regularly, this mood boosts（增强）even carries over to non-workout days.3.. Mood stays about the same on days they don’t.

4.. A study has confirmed that when people actively try to be happy, they raise their baseline moods, making them feel happier than those who do not try. In the study, two sets of participants listened to “happy” music. Those who actively tried to feel happier reported the highest level of positive mood afterwards.

·Care for others. 5.. Volunteer work is good for both mental and physical health. People of all ages who volunteer are happier and experience better physical health and less depression.

A. Exercise is easy to do.

B. Put effort into being happy.

C. People around you impact your mood.

D. Sunshine and fresh air make you feel good too.

E. But you can start a good morning over with a new attitude.

F. People who spend time every month helping others are happier.

G. On exercise days, people’s mood is significantly improved after exercising.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

Recent research has____the natural mystery, which has amazed the world.

A. got a kick out of　　 B. got stuck in

C. thrown light on　　 D. made sense of

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Recent research findings have ________ the origin of our universe, which has puzzled the scientific world.

A. cast light on　　 B. given rise to

C. seized control of　　 D. kept company with

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Play is the basic business of childhood, and in recent years more and more research has shown the great importance of play in the development of a human being. From earliest  infancy （婴儿）, every child needs opportunity and the right material for play, and the main tools of play are toys. The main function of toys is to suggest, encourage and assist play. To succeed in this, they must be good toys, which children will play with often and will come back to again and again. Therefore, it is important to choose suitable toys for different stages of a child’s development.

In recent years research on infant development has shown that the standard a child is likely to reach, within the range of his inherited(遗传的) abilities, is largely determined in the first three years of his life. So a baby's ability to benefit from the right play materials should not be underestimated. A baby who is encouraged, talked to and shown things and played with, has the best chance of growing up successfully.

The next stage, from three to five years old, curiosity knows no bounds. Every type of suitable toy should be made available to the child, for trying out, experimenting and learning, for discovering his own particular ability. Bricks and jigsaws and construction toys; painting, scribbling(乱涂) and making things; sand and water play; toys for imaginative and pretending play; the first social games for learning to play and get on with others．

By the third stage of play development—from five to seven or eight years old— the child is at school. But for a few more years play is still the best way of learning, at home or at school. It is easier to see which type of toys the child most enjoys.

Until the age of seven or eight, play and work mean much the same to a child. But once reading has been mastered, then books and school become the main source of learning. Toys are still interesting and valuable, which lead up to new hobbies, but their significance has changed —to a child of nine or ten years old, toys and games mean, as to adults, relaxation and fun.

1.The writer wants us to understand that a child_______.

A．cannot grow up without toys               B．matures（使成熟） through play

C．uses toys as friends                      D．has to be taught how to play

2.According to the passage, the abilities a child has inherited from his parents ________.

A．determine his character

B．will not change after the age of three

C．partly determine the standard he is likely to reach

D．to a large extent determine the choice of toys

3.The passage tells us that children are the most curious when they are about______.

A．two years old      B．one year old       C．six years old       D．four years old

4.The article is about_______.

A．the importance of play

B．the importance of books

C．the relationship between play and work

D．children’s speech development

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A recent study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found a clear link between the color of a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility (能见度） of yellow makes it less difficult for drivers to avoid getting into accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.

The study was led by Prof Ho. To test whether there was a relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analysed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6. 1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.

They also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio (比例) of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76. 6 fewer accidents will occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year.

Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days, the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual saving of $2 million.

“We are eager to continue to validate (证实) the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For example, we hope to compare the accident rates of yellow school buses against those of other colors to find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we’ re also interested to look at private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of different colors explained Prof Ho.

1.Why do yellow taxis result in fewer accidents?

A. Because yellow signals a warning of danger.

B. Because yellow can be seen more easily.

C. Because drivers tend to he more careful in yellow taxis.

D. Because people act more quickly in yellow surroundings.

2.What’ s Prof Ho’s study based on?

A. Physical risks taxi passengers experience.

B. The economic effect of changing taxi color.

C. Personal reports from taxi drivers worldwide.

D. Data from Singapore's largest taxi company.

3.What do Prof Ho’s words in the last paragraph suggest?

A. School buses should be painted yellow.

B. Their findings are worth popularizing.

C. Their study will be furthered.

D. Yellow should be widely used in public transport,

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. Safer to ride in yellow taxis　　 B. Caution: yellow taxis ahead

C. Why are yellow Taxis preferred?　　 D. How can colors help prevent accidents?

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

A large body of research has been developed in recent years to explain many aspects of willpower. Most of the researchers exploring self-control do so with an obvious goal in mind: How can willpower be strengthened? If willpower is truly a limited resource, as the research suggests, what can be done to make it stay strong?

Avoiding temptation (诱惑) is an effective method for maintaining self-control, which is called the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. One recent study, for instance, found office workers less attracted to candy in the desk drawer than that on top of their desks, in plain sight.

The research suggesting that we possess a limited reservoir of self-control raises a troubling question. When we face too many temptations, are we to fail? Not necessarily. Researchers don't believe that one's willpower is ever completely exhausted. Rather, people appear to hold some willpower in reserve, saved for future demands. The right motivation allows us to tap into those reserves, allowing us to carry on even when our self-control strength has been run down. High motivation might help overcome weakened willpower-at least to a point.

Willpower may also be made less vulnerable (脆弱) to being exhausted in the first place.

Researchers who study self-control often describe it as being like a muscle that gets tired with heavy use. But there is another aspect to the muscle comparison, they say. While muscles become exhausted by exercise in the short term, they are strengthened by regular exercise in the long term. Similarly, regular practices of self-control may improve willpower strength.

The evidence from willpower-exhaustion studies also suggests that making a list of resolutions on New Year's Eve is the worst possible approach. Being exhausted in one area can reduce willpower in other areas, so it makes more sense to focus on a single goal at a time. In other words, don't try to quit smoking, adopt a healthy diet and start a new exercise plan at the same time. Taking goals one by one is a better approach. Once a good habit is in place, Baumeister says, you'll no longer need to draw on your willpower to maintain the behavior. Eventually healthy habits will become routine, and won't require making decisions at all.

1.From the studies in the passage we learn that ________.

A.people have unlimited self-control B.high motivation ensures one's success

C.too many temptations often lead to failure D.willpower is hardly completely exhausted

2.The underlined phrase "tap into" in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.

A.put up with B.make up for

C.make use of D.keep away from

3.The author compares self—control to muscles ________.

A.to explain the benefits of practicing self-control

B.to show the significance of regular exercise

C.to argue that self-control can he easily used up

D.to prove the long-term effect of willpower

4.To develop a good habit, which of the following does the author prefer?

A."I will give up dessert and do exercise."

B."I will set three goals this new semester."

C."I will read an English novel every month."

D."I will keep myself from any temptation."

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Certain activities can be good or bad for our brains, so let’s see which of the seven habits you should carry on doing or give up.

1.Which of the following should we do if we want to keep our brains healthy?

A. Take exercise every 3 hours　　 B. Learn to play the guitar

C. Only cat fresh and green food　　 D. Drink too much

2.What does the underlined word “depressed” in the last section mean?

A. Excited　　 B. Sad

C. Clam　　 D. Determined

3.What will the author talk about next?

A. The best exercise for brains

B. Important habits in our daily life

C. The importance to keep the brain healthy

D. The seventh habit that may influence your brain

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Shared habits of happy people

Happy people all share happy habits.It's as simple as that.The happiest people I know share these obvious habits.If you're looking to expand your general happiness, you may consider adopting these in your own life.

People may take an active role in their local city council, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers.In each case, the physiological outcome is the same.They engage in something they strongly believe in.This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.

A happy life is a life shared with friends and family.The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction is, the happier a person will be.

Quite often people concentrate too much on negative outcomes and leave no time to reflect positively on their successes.It's natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but it is important to reflect mindfully on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad.A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive effect on your overall emotional happiness.

The power of endings is quite remarkable.The end of any experience has a great impact on a person's overall perception(看法) of the experience as a whole.Think about reading a well­written novel.Now imagine the ending is really poor.Even if the story was appealing until the ending, would you still be happy recommending the novel to a friend? People always remember the ending.If the ending is happy, the experience creates happiness.Always tie loose ends, leave things on a good note, and create happy endings in your life whenever possible.

Everyone possesses unique personal strengths.We all have different talents and skill sets.Emotional happiness comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get things done.The state of completion always creates a sense of achievement.If the achievement is based on your own personal ability to get the job done, the physiological rewards are priceless.

The best things in life are free.They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at previous locations and arbitrary times.They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstances and captured by mindful awareness.It's all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love.Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unplanned bursts of happiness into your life.

高二英语任务型阅读中等难度题查看答案及解析

Change is everything in the case of mobile phones. Recent research indicates that the mobile phone is changing not only our culture, but our very bodies as well.

First, let’s talk about culture. The difference between the mobile phone and the fixed-line phone, is that a mobile number corresponds to a person, while a fixed-line phone goes to a place. If you call my mobile, you get me. If you call my fixed-line phone, you get whoever answers it.

This has several implications（含义）. The most common one, however, and perhaps the thing that has changed our culture forever, is the “meeting” influence. People no longer need to make firm plans about when and where to meet. Twenty years ago, a Friday night would need to be arranged in advance. You needed enough time to allow everyone to get from their place of work to the first meeting place. Now, however, a night out can be arranged on the run. It is no longer “see you there at 8”, but “text me around 8 and we’ll see where we all are.”

Texting changes people as well. In their paper, “Insights into the Social and Psychological Effects of SMS (Short Message Service) Text Messaging”, two British researchers distinguished between two types of mobile phone users: the “talkers” and the “texters”－those who prefer voice to text messages and those who prefer text to voice.

They found that the mobile phone’s individuality and privacy gave texters the ability to express a whole new outer personality. Texters were likely to report that their family would be surprised if they were to read their texts. This suggests that texting allowed texters to present a self-image that differed from the one familiar to those who knew them well.

Another scientist wrote of the changes that mobiles have brought to body language. There are two kinds that people use while speaking on the phone. There is the “speakeasy”: the head is held high, in a self-confident way, chatting away. And there is the “spacemaker”: these people focus on themselves and keep out other people.

Who can blame them? Phone meetings get cancelled or reformed and camera-phones intrude（侵入）on people’s privacy. So, it is understandable if your mobile makes you nervous. But perhaps you needn’t worry so much. After all, it is good to talk.

1.The “meeting” influence of a mobile phone refers to the fact that ________.

A. people are able to meet someone at any place and any time

B. people have to make a firm plan about when and where to meet

C. people can arrange their meeting place and time more flexibly

D. people have to attend more phone meetings than ever before

2.We can infer from Paragraph 5 that the texts sent by texters probably are ________.

A. showing popular images to others

B. showing new images to others

C. showing the same images to others

D. showing familiar images to others

3.According to the passage, who is afraid of being heard while talking on the mobile?

A. talkers　　 　　 　　 B. the “spacemaker”

C. the “speakeasy”　 D. texters

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. The Influence of Short Message Service B. Changes in the Use of the Mobile

C. Changes Caused by Mobile Phone Use D. Body Language and the Mobile Phone

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A team of UK researchers recently compared the performances of 120 women and 120 men in a computer test involving switching between tasks of counting and shape recognition.

Men and women were equally capable when tasks were handled one at a time. But when the tasks were mixed up, there was a clear difference. According to the paper published in the journal BMC Psychology, both women and men slowed down and made more mistakes as the switching became more rapid. But the men were slower, taking 77 percent longer to answer, whereas women took 69 percent longer.

To make the experiment more relevant to day-to-day life, researchers tried a second test. A group of women and men were given eight minutes to complete a series of everyday tasks, such as finding restaurants on a map, doing simple math problems, answering a phone call, or deciding how they would search for a lost key in a field. Once again, women outperformed men in the test, particularly in the key-searching task.

“It suggests that in a stressed and complex situation women are more able to stop and think about what’s going on in front of them,” researcher Keith Laws of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, told BBC News. “In contrast, men had a slight impulsiveness（冲动）, answering without giving much thought to their responses.”

So where do women get the ability to keep organized under pressure better than men? Researchers believe that it has its roots in evolution. In early human communities, women had to keep an eye on children while cooking meals. Meanwhile, men only needed to focus on hunting.

1.What did the UK researchers find in the first experiment?

A. Men were better at counting and shape recognition than women.

B. Women made more mistakes than men when multitasking.

C. Women were better at switching between tasks than men.

D. Men and women had equal multitasking abilities.

2.Why did the researchers carry out the second test?

A. To compare the results from different age groups.

B. To check the results with more difficult tasks.

C. To make the results more connected to people’s lives.

D. To check the results over a shorter period of time.

3.What is the main purpose of Paragraph 4 and 5?

A. To show how men and women think differently.

B. To give advice on how to multitask.

C. To compare the roles of men and women in human communities.

D. To explain why men and women perform differently.

4.What can we learn from this passage?

A. Men tend to give more thought to their responses when facing complex situations.

B. Every woman is born to be good at multitasking.

C. Men only need to focus on hunting.

D. Evolution leads to women’s outperforming men in multitasking.

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析