网址：http://m.1010jiajiao.com/timu3_id_3152843[举报]
My husband Jeff and I moved into our new home in Scottsbluff last year just before Christmas. I did not have the 1 or energy to carry out my traditional Christmas decorating and baking activities. What was the point, anyway? It was going to be a 2 Christmas after all.
__3__, the neighborly nature of west Nebraska residents started to trickle (陆续来临) in.
There was a 4 on the door one evening. It was Jeff’s new colleague, John Smith, and his wife, Phyllis. The Smiths had stopped by to 5 us to town with a loaf of homemade bread. They pointed out a 6 on the porch (门廊). Apparently the doorbell wasn’t working in the cold snowy weather and we had 7 a visit from the Browns, our across-the-street neighbors, who brought us a Christmas card and more Christmas cookies.
The 8 feelings brought by these thoughtful gestures lasted longer than the food.
As Jeff and I were clearing pre-Christmas 9 from our driveway, Ernie Guzman came over from next door to 10 us to dig out.
Then, we received an invitation to 11 a Christmas Eve meal with our neighbors, Ernie and Nancy Sommer, and their 12 — a 90-year-old lady, who also had no family in the immediate area with whom to spend the holiday.
Our Christmas Eve was quite merry, thanks to our 13 . Our Christmas morning 14 was special, thanks to the Smiths’ gift of bread. I was so 15 for these gestures of welcome, especially during the holidays.
This year, we were again unable to be with our families for Christmas. The 16 and work schedules just made things too difficult. 17 that sense of Christmas isolation (孤立) all too well, we decided to try to round up some other folks who were 18 in the holidays.
Lonely people are all around us, but most of us 19 notice them. Just take a look around you. Sometimes, the smallest 20 gesture can make a world of difference.
1. A. chance B. time C. anxiety D. ability
2. A. merry B. free C. lonely D. usual
3. A. Therefore B. Meanwhile C. Somehow D. However
4. A. card B. sign C. knock D. note
5. A. welcome B. invite C. drive D. send
6. A. tree B. package C. mail D. flower
7. A. forgot B. arranged C. received D. missed
8. A. deep B. true C. warm D. mixed
9. A. snow B. rubbish C. dust D. leaves
10. A. teach B. help C. urge D. forbid
11. A. share B. prepare C. taste D. exchange
12. A. aunt B. guest C. maid D. partner
13. A. folks B. relatives C. colleagues D. neighbors
14. A. call B. greeting C. breakfast D. meeting
15. A. sorry B. eager C. ready D. grateful
16. A. distance B. expense C. season D. situation
17. A. Studying B. Showing C. Knowing D. Discovering
18. A. alone B. busy C. happy D. active
19. A. always B. seldom C. finally D. usually
20. A. careful B. patient C. vague D. kind
查看习题详情和答案>>Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
A．keep rewards better in their memory
B．recall consequences more effortlessly
C．make risky decisions more frequently
D．learn a subject more effectively
2.According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.
A．ways of making choices B．preference for pleasure
C．tolerance of punishments D．responses to suggestions
3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.
A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits
B．men have a greater tendency to slow down
C．women focus more on outcomes
D．men are more likely to take risks
查看习题详情和答案>>
Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
| A．keep rewards better in their memory |
| B．recall consequences more effortlessly |
| C．make risky decisions more frequently |
| D．learn a subject more effectively |
| A．ways of making choices | B．preference for pleasure |
| C．tolerance of punishments | D．responses to suggestions |
| A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits |
| B．men have a greater tendency to slow down |
| C．women focus more on outcomes |
| D．men are more likely to take risks |