A little girl lived in a small, shabby house on a hill. She enjoyed playing in her small ________ as she was growing up. She was able to see over the garden and across a valley (山谷) to a wonderful house high on a hill—a house that had golden ________.

Although she loved her own family, she dreamed all day about ________ wonderful and exciting it must be to live in that golden house.

She eventually (终于) ________ an age, where she could play outside of her garden. She asked her mother if she could go for a bike ride outside the gate of her home. Her mother finally ________ her to go. The little girl rode her bike until she got to the gate of the golden house.

As she leaned her ________ against the gatepost, she focused on the path that led to the house and then looked at the house itself. However, she felt a bit ________. All the windows were actually plain (普通的) and rather dirty.

She was so sad that she didn’t try to go any further. Heartbroken, she got on her bike again. As she ________, she saw a sight that amazed her. She could see a small house on ________ side of the valley. Its windows glistened (闪耀) as the sun shone on her little home.

She realized that she had been living in her own ________ house all along. Everything she dreamed of was right there in front of her eyes!

1.A.house B.park C.room D.garden

2.A.windows B.keys C.roofs D.doors

3.A.why B.what C.how D.whether

4.A.reached B.got C.arrived D.became

5.A.drove B.allowed C.led D.organized

6.A.bike B.car C.dream D.window

7.A.happy B.disappointed C.excited D.afraid

8.A.lifted up B.looked up C.turned up D.dressed up

9.A.another B.other C.the other D.others

10.A.shabby B.warm C.small D.golden

We like to believe that before we make a decision, most of the time, we take time to consider all the facts carefully. However, Experts believe that only 5% of our decisions are based on a rational (理性的)thought process. So, what influences our decision-making process?

We often leave decision-making to our instincts(本能).Scientists have found out that if we had the choice, we like to avoid pain rather than get something. In fact, we're twice as happy when we try to avoid a bad situation than when we experience a good one. This is why when companies send ads, they use phrases like "How to avoid...", "Don't miss out!", etc.

There are also physical reasons that affect our decision-making. Psychologist (心理学家)John Bargh carried on an experiment where people were asked what they thought of a fictional person, while holding a cold or a hot cup of coffee. Those holding the hot cup believed the person to be warmer and more sociable than those holding the cold cup. So, when temperatures rise, the more likely we are to believe in strangers.

Stress is another thing which affects our decisions. Different situations are more or less stressful for different people. Researchers have found, though, that women are more conservative (保守的)about decisions when stressed, while men are to make riskier choices.

It may come as a surprise but every day from the minute we get up, we have to make countless decisions, like what to wear, what coffee to have and so on. Each choice makes our brain a little bit more tired, and this affects our decision-making. That's why important people, like presidents wearing the same three suits all the time, want to limit the small choices and spend more brain power (力量)on the bigger ones.

1.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

A. B. C. D.

2.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A.Every day we have to make lots of big decisions.

B.People sometimes judge a person by what he wears.

C.What people wear influences their decision making.

D.Making fewer decisions helps to save brain power.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A.We make most of the decisions after our careful thinking.

B.People are likely to be happier to avoid something bad.

C.As the temperature is low, we are likely to believe others

D.People usually have risky decisions under heavy pressure.

4.The purpose of the passage is to__________.

A.tell us what influences decision-making B.advise people to make rational decisions

C.warn people not to make risky decisions D.show disadvantages of rational decisions

When you write a text message or an email, you might put a smiling face or other pictures at the end to make the message more fun. These pictures are emojis. The first emojis were on Japanese mobile phones in the 1990s. Later, they were used on Apple’s iPhone and Android phones. Now they are everywhere!

Before emojis, there were emoticons. The word is a mixture(混合) of emotion(感情) and icon(图标). Emoticons are made of the signs you can find on your keyboard, for example:-) for a smiley or @};---for a rose. The first use of :-)was in 1982 and it was called “joke marker”. Emoji is a Japanese word which means pictograph: e(picture) +moji (character). Emojis are real pictures, for example,or.There are 1851emojis that can be used on mobile phones and other devices. There are all kinds of emojis, from faces and weather to things in the kitchen and animal.

In England, we have a saying: A picture paints a thousand words. For many people, an emoji is like a punctuation mark(标点). It’s like the tone of voice when we speak on the phone, or hand movements(gestures) used in conversation. Emojis are also changing the way we write. The more we use emojis, the less we use slang(俚语), such as LOL or OMG.

When someone speaks and looks serious, we try to look serious, too, and when someone smiles, we smile as well. This is how we show empathy(同感) and make friends(and enemies!). But when we’re online, we can’t see the person’s face and there’s no emotion. The invention of emojis changed that! Scientists in Australia have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain start working as when we look at a real smiley face. Our mood changes, and we try to change our face to match the emoji. This is something we learn as we get older. Our brains have developed this ability over the last two or three years. This means that emojis have created a new brain pattern(模式)in us!

1.Where does the writer of this passage possibly come from?

A.Australia B.Japanese C.America D.Britain

2.What is NOT true about Paragraph 3?

A.Some slang is used less often because of emojis.

B.We no more need words.

C.An Emoji adds emotions to our messages.

D.An Emoji makes people feel face to face.

3.What is (= ̄ω ̄=) according to the passage?

A.an emoji B.a picture C.an emoticon D.a sound

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A.Emojis will make our words disappear.

B.Emojis have greatly influenced us in many ways.

C.We don’t need to speak to others or meet others any more.

D.Scientists are worried about this invention of emojis.

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