题目内容

Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”

Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative, but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times’ readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.

Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused (激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”

1.What do the classic rules mentioned in the text apply to?

A. Private e-mails.

B. Research papers.

C. News reports.

D. Daily conversations.

2.What can we infer about people like Debbie Downer?

A. They’re socially inactive.

B. They’re good at telling stories.

C. They’re careful with their words.

D. They’re inconsiderate of others.

3.Which tended to be the most e-mailed according to Dr. Berger’s research?

A. Science articles.

B. Sports news.

C. Personal accounts.

D. Financial reviews.

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

A. Sad Stories Travel Far and Wide

B. Online News Attracts More People

C. Reading Habits Change with the Times

D. Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks

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People always think men are more skilled than women in driving. Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

In a survey done for insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. “Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (守法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents.” the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D. C., where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

“More than 11,900 male drivers died in U.S. traffic accidents in 2009, compared with just under 4,900 women drivers,” according to the study. “Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, v.s. 1.7 deaths for women.”

1. According to the study, male drivers _________.

A. are less aggressive while driving

B. are more skilled at auto knowledge

C. are more likely to stick to driving laws

D. are less familiar with safety equipment

2. Insurance companies focus on female driver clients(客户) probably because they _________.

A. cause more accidents on the road but ask for little

B. cause little damage and pay more money to the insurance companies

C. make up the most part of the insurance clients

D. are more careful drivers and cause less damage

3. We can infer from the passage that _________.

A. men are 3.1 times more likely to get tickets than women

B. all women in the USA pay the same for their auto insurance

C. more female drivers die every year than male drivers

D. women are generally safer drivers than the opposite sex

4. The writer mainly develops paragraphs by _________.

A. giving examples B. making comparisons

C. drawing a conclusion D. presenting an argument

Taking a shower is relaxing.You can hum a song, daydream or think about nothing, leaving the real world behind you.But did you know that showering can also benefit your mind?

A research by Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist from Yale University in the US interviewed over 3,000 people around the world.It turned out that nearly two-thirds of the interviewees said they had experienced new ideas in the shower and were more likely to have them in the shower than at work.

So why does a simple shower have such magic power? Science can explain it.

Showering can help to raise our level of dopamine, a hormone (荷尔蒙) closely related to our creativity.“People vary in terms of their level of creativity according to the activity of dopamine”, explained Alice Flaherty, a famous American neuroscientist.“Taking a warm shower can make us feel relaxed and therefore make the dopamine level rise and bring 'Aha!' moment to us.”

Besides the chemical changes, showering may give you a break from what you feel you have been stuck with.Especially when you have thought hard all day about a problem, jumping into the shower can keep you from the outside world so that you can focus on your inner feelings and memories.In this way, according to American psychologist Shelley H.Carson, author of Your Creative Brain, “a showering hour may turn into an ‘incubation (孵化) period’ for your ideas.”

Compared with sitting in front of a computer, taking a shower is something we do less frequently in our daily life.When showering, we get a fresh experience with the change of location, temperature and humidity.“New and unexpected experiences can lead to positive changes in thinking,” explained Kaufman.“Getting off the couch and jumping in the shower may create a distance and force you to think from a new point of view.”

Showering allows us to enjoy the creative juices of our minds, but it needn't just be the bathroom where you get your inspiration.For instance, Gertrude Stein, a female American writer and poet, got new ideas by driving around a farm and stopping at different cows until she found the one that most inspired her.So try to create your own way to free your mind, whether it's a walk near the ocean, a country drive or reading a book at home.

1.According to the article, what changes can showering cause?

A.Bringing the terrible moment to us.

B.Increasing the level of dopamine.

C.Leading to boredom or tiredness.

D.Setting the creative part of the brain free.

2.If one has focused on something all day, showering can help _______.

A.turn one’s attention inwards

B.draw one’s attention to the outside world

C.one make an important breakthrough

D.many chemical changes to take place

3.It can be inferred from the article that _______.

A.changes in the frequency of an action can create a new perspective

B.it is a good idea to talk with others about their sources of inspiration

C.our lives might feel longer and fuller if we frequently try new things

D.it is helpful to try something different rather than stay focused on a difficult task

4.The example of Gertrude Stein in the last paragraph is used to _______.

A.encourage readers to find their own ways of getting inspiration

B.point out to readers that it's hard to find inspiration

C.explain how to link inspiration with readers’ daily lives

D.show that creativity often comes from strange places

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