The sun is shining when I get on No. 151 bus. We passengers sit jammed together in heavy clothes. No one speaks. That’s one of the unwritten rules of Chicago commuting. Although we see the same faces every day, we prefer to hide behind our newspapers. The phenomenon is striking: people who sit so close together are using those thin sheets of newsprint to keep their distance.
As the bus approaches the Magnificent Mile, a voice suddenly rings out: “Attention! Attention!” Papers rattle (发出细小声). Necks crane (伸长). “This is your driver speaking.”
We look at the back of the driver’s head. His voice has authority.
“All of you put your papers down.”
The papers come down, an inch at a time. The driver waits. The papers are folded and placed on our laps.
“Now, turn and face the person next to you. Go ahead.”
Amazingly, we all do it. Still, no one smiles.
I face an older woman, her head wrapped tightly in a red scarf. I see her nearly every day. Our eyes meet. We wait, unblinking, for the next order from the driver.
“Now, repeat after me…” It is a command, delivered in the tones of a drill sergeant (操练军士). “Good morning, neighbor!”
Our voices are weak and timid. For many of us, these are the first words we have spoken today. But we say them at the same time, like schoolchildren, to the strangers beside us.
We smile and can’t help it. We have said it; the barrier has been broken. Good morning, neighbor. It is not so hard after all. Some of us repeat it. Others shake hands. Many laugh.
The bus driver says nothing more. He doesn’t need to. Not a single newspaper goes back up. I hear laughter, a warm sound I have never heard before on bus No. 151. This day is starting off better than most.
【小题1】On hearing the sudden utterance of “Attention!”, the passengers ___________.

A.stopped reading and put down their newspapers immediately
B.sat still without response
C.looked up from the newspapers to see who was speaking
D.were frightened
【小题2】The underlined word “commuting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means ___________.
A.long-distance ride
B.daily traveling between home and work
C.communication technology
D.behavior patterns
【小题3】Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.The passengers on the crowded bus were so absorbed in reading their newspapers that no one spoke.
B.When the bus driver said nothing more, the passengers picked up and read their newspapers again.
C.The passengers didn’t follow the driver’s instruction at first.
D.The passengers were physically close together but mentally they kept each other at a terrible distance.
【小题4】What would be the best title for the text?
A.The Warmth of Communication
B.The Exchange of Information
C.The Power of Observation
D.The Attitude to Loneliness

In a cab, a woman seemed in such a hurry. She constantly rushed the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts of getting to the airport as soon as possible that she was not aware they were going by a different route.

All of a sudden, a young man got inside the cab. He took her handbag in which she had put her visa, passport, and all the money for the trip.

The cab driver, who was in collusion with the robber, left her in the exactly middle of a dark street. She thought that she was rather unfortunate in the very situation.

During the very night, she was told a piece of shocking news. Tears came down her cheek. Flight 360, the plane that she should have got on board, had crashed. Had she not lost her important belongings, she could surely have lost the thing far more precious——her life.

Sometimes bad things really happen. There are times when nothing seems to go our way. So what should we do about it? We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the faith that we will get what we deserve. 

Don’t waste your time and energy on things that can’t be changed. Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you’ll be doing much more damage than what was previously done.

What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?

There was a man who won the lottery. He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on.

But when he one day made it to the front page of the newspaper again, it was a different story. He had been killed because of his riches. If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it. Life is so unpredictable. You never know what will happen next.

Live one day at a time. We sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble. But please don’t forget: sometimes misfortune can be the source of happiness. Live for the moment. Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine. Believe me. And believe in yourself. As Captain Planet always says, “The power is yours!”

1. The underlined phrase “in collusion with” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________.”

A. was forced by                              B. was fighting bravely against 

C. was doing one’s best to beg             D. had cooperated with

2. From the passage, we learn that ________.

A. robbers are sure to get what they want        

B. somebody never runs out of good luck

C. the woman was lucky to miss her flight 

D. if one feels oneself lucky, he or she will continue to be so

3. The writer presents the second example in order to ________.

A. warn people of the danger of winning the lottery

B. tell people life is unpredictable

C. encourage people to buy lottery  

D. persuade people not to be greedy

4. According to the author, which of the following choices is the correct attitude to adopt to life?

A. Never waste any time or energy because time is so limited.

B. One needn’t be worried or feel frustrated. Believe in yourself.

C. Even while everything appears to be going smoothly, we should keep fully alert.

D. Worrying about what you don’t have

5. The passage above is intended to tell us ________.

A. misfortune sometimes is a blessing

B. we should save up for a rainy day

C. fortune just goes with those prepared minds

D. both losses and gains go hand in hand

 

Catch yourself daydreaming while washing the dishes again? If this happens often you probably have a pretty capable working memory and a sharper brain, new research suggests.

This mind wandering, it seems, actually gives your working memory a workout. Working memory is the mental work space that allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts at the same time. The more working memory a person has, the more daydreaming they can do without forgetting the task at hand.

Researchers studied groups of people from the University of Wisconsin-Madison community, ranging in age from 18 to 65. The volunteers were asked to perform simple tasks, like pressing a button every time they took a breath or clicking in response to a letter popping up on a computer screen; these tasks were so easy that their minds were likely to wander, the researchers figured.

The researchers checked in periodically, asking the participants if their minds were on task or wandering. When the task was over, they measured each participant's working memory capacity by having them remember letters while doing math questions. Though all participants performed well on the task, the researchers noticed that the individuals who indicated their minds had wandered more than others also scored higher on the working memory test.

“What this study seems to suggest is that, when circumstances for the task aren't very difficult, people who have additional working memory resources allocate them to think about things other than what they're doing,” said Jonathan Smallwood, a study researcher of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitve and Brain Science.

When our minds run out of working memory, these off-topic thoughts can take the main stage without us consciously meaning them to; for instance, arriving at home with no memory of the actual trip, or suddenly realizing that they've turned several pages in a book without understanding any of the words.

“It's almost like your attention was so absorbed in the mind wandering that there wasn't any left over to remember your goal to read,” study researcher Daniel Levinson, said in a statement.

People with overall higher working memory were better able to stay focused when the task at hand required it. Those who had low working memory often had their thoughts drift away from the task, and did less well at it.

The findings add to past research suggesting these mind drifts can be positive moments. For instance, daydreaming has often been associated with creativity—researchers think that our most creative and inventive moments come when daydreaming. It's likely that the most intelligent among us also have high levels of working memory, Levinson noted.

1.The word “juggle” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “________”.

A. handle  B. search  C. understand  D. distribute

2.What can be concluded from Jonathan Smallwood's words?

A. People who often have daydreams probably own a pretty capable working memory.

B. On the working memory test, people with wandering minds will get high score.

C. Absorbed in the mind wandering, your attention left no space for your goal.

D. Dealing with some easy jobs, people with higher working memory will daydream.

3.What is the best title of the passage?

A. Mind drifts are always positive.

B. Daydreaming is good for the mind.

C. Creative moments come with working memory.

D. The more daydreaming, the more effectively one works.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网