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Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.“Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,”William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word“habit”carries a negative meaning.
So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,”says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind.“But we are taught instead to‘decide’, just as our president calls himself‘the Decider’．”She adds, however, that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,”she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought.“This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,”explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will…and Ms. Markova’s business partner.“That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in.
1.Brain researchers have discovered that .
A．the forming of new habits can be guided
B．the development of habits can be predicted
C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed
D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously
2.The underlined word “ruts”in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .
A．zones B．connections C．situations D．tracks
3.Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?
A．Decision makes no sense in choices.
B．Curiosity makes creative minds active.
C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.
D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.
4.he purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us .
A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately
B．to create and develop new habits consciously
C．to resist the application of standardized testing
D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits
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In fact, the room was not made to be a gift. It designed for the palace of Frederick I. However, the next King of Prussia, Frederick William I, whom the amber room belonged, decided not to keep it. In 1716 he gave them to Peter the Great. And then , the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. So the Amber Room became part of the Czar’s winter palace in St Petersburg. Late, Catherine II had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St Petersburg when she spent her summers. She told her artists to add more details in it. In 1770 the room was completed the way how she wanted. Almost six hundred candles lit the room, and it’s mirrors and pictures shone like gold. Sad, although the Amber Room was considered one of the wonders of the world, it is now missed.
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阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意:每个空格只填
一个单词。
For thousands of years ’ the most important two buildings in any British village have been the
church and the pub. In fact，until a place has a church and a pub，it isn ’ t really considered a
community worthy of a name. Traditionally，the church and the pub are at the heart of any village
or town, since it is where people gather to give and receive news. In fact, the word ‘ pub' is short
for 4 public house'.
That's how it used to be, but things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit
decline is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People don ’ t have lots of spare
money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may
also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.
This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow
pubs to stay open after 11 p. m. Previously，with 11 p. m. as closing time，customers would have
to drink quite quickly，meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink
slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as，binge drinking ’ (狂饮)，
and it causes some long - term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for
•communities. The UK government is changing the law to discourage binge drinking, and regularly
spends money on television advertisements to warn people of the problems of drinking too much.
In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. Now, there are
a number of different types of pubs.
As you can see, British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be
working men' s clubs, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can
freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the
better after alL
|
Topic |
The 1.____of British Pub Culture? |
|
The important 2.___ of churches and pubs in people' s daily life in the UK |
♦People won't name an area unless there are a church and a pub. ♦They are the places where people gather to 3.____ news. |
|
The 4.____ for the decrease of the pub business |
♦The credit decline is said to cause many pubs to 5.___ down. ♦Smoking is not 6.___ in all pubs, which may have had an effect on the business. ♦The government is trying hard to 7.____binge drinking. |
|
8.___ to save the business |
♦Pubs are making 9.)____ to meet the needs of the market. ♦As a woman in the UK nowadays, you can 10.____ a drink in almost all the pubs. |
|
Conclusion |
Things are changing for the better probably from now on. |
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Once in a blue moon,(极为罕见) there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't expect it to be blue - the name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial(天空的) neighbor. A full moon occurred on December 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.
The New Year's Eve blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.
A full moon occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month - a blue moon - occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't come again until 2028.
“Blue moons have no astronomical significance,” said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California. “`Blue moon' is just a name in the same sense as a `hunter's moon'(a full moon in octorber) or a `harvest moon,'” Laughlin said in an e-mail.
The popular definition of blue moon came about after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misinterpreted the Maine Farmer's Almanac and labeled a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the almanac(年历) defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons.
1.What’s the color of blue moon?
A．blue B．golden C．green D．red
2.If you are in China, in which month can you see the blue moon?
A．December, 2009 B．November, 2009
C．January, 2010 D．February, 2010
3.Compared with the hunters moon, the blue moon ________ .
A．is more beautiful B．is rarer C．is larger D．is brighter
4.Which full moon should be called blue moon according to the original definition?
A．The second full moon in a month with two full moons.
B．The third full moon in a month with three full moons.
C．The second full moon in a season with four full moons.
D．The third full moon in a season with four full moons.
5.What would be the best title for the passage ?
A．Rare New Year’s Eve Blue Moon to Ring in 2010
B．Blue Moon to Take Us Good Fortune
C．The Best Time to Observe Blue Moon
D．The Reason for Blue Moon’s Appearing
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We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home.
On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow.
“Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack.
It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?”
In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing.
“It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.
1.In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.
A. would like very much to buy B. badly wanted
C. was glad to have bought D. would rather not buy
2.Other drivers thought they were _______.
A. carrying a cupboard to the church
B. sending flowers to the church
C. carrying nothing but a piece of furniture
D. going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church
3.The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
A. driving in gathering darkness
B. in great sorrow (悲痛)
C. driving with wild flowers in the car
D. carrying furniture
4.What did the husband think of the whole matter?
A. It was very strange. B. He felt ashamed of it.
C. He took great pride in it. D. He was puzzled at it.
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