"Earworms", some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no clear reason you cannot help yourself from humming or singing a tune by Lady Gaga.

To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. Earworms arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to. They are parasites (寄生虫) living in a part of our minds.

If you have got an earworm you can suffer an attack of it simply by someone mentioning the tune, without having to hear it. This proves that earworms are a part of long-term memory. Humans have an "inner ear", for remembering phone numbers, for instance. When it gets infected with earworms, rather than review our plans for the day, or lists of things to remember, the inner ear gets stuck on a few short bars of music or a couple of phrases from a song. A part of us that we normally do not have to think about, that should just do what we ask, has been turned against us, upsetting us with a request that we never asked for. The mind is an inner world which we do not have complete knowledge of, or have control over.

Fortunately psychology can provide some advice on how to deal with an uncontrollable mind. Consider the famous "don’t think of a white bear" problem, which tells you to try not to think about white bears, or to do something else, to avoid both thinking of the white bear and not thinking of the white bear. For earworms, the solution may be the same. Our inner ear has become infected with an earworm. This is a part not under our control, so just sending in instructions to "shut up" is unlikely to be of much help (and has been shown to make it worse). Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task. If your mind is poisoned by Brittany Spears’ Toxic, for instance, then try singing Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head. Let me know if it works!

1.According to the passage, earworms are ______.

A．songs that keep going round in our mind

B．worms that live in a part of our brain

C．tunes by pop singers like Lady Gaga

D．parasites clearly under our control

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Singing songs may get earworms out of your head.

B．Earworms are used for keeping long-term memory.

C．Humans do not have complete control over their mind.

D．You won’t suffer from earworms unless you hear the song.

3.What does “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．The instruction to shut up your mind.

B．“Don’t think of the white bear” problem.

C．Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head.

D．Using the earworm-infected inner ear in another task.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A．The causes and influences of earworms.

B．What earworms are and how to deal with them.

C．How to clear earworms out of your head.

D．The relation between earworms and popular songs.

After my husband died, my world crashed around me. My six children were 10, nine, eight, six, three and 18 months, and I was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of earning a living, caring for the children and simply keeping my head above water.

I was fortunate to find a wonderful housekeeper to care for the children during the week, but from Friday nights to Monday mornings, the children and I were alone, and frankly I was uneasy. Every unusual noise or any late-night phone call filled me with fear. I felt incredibly alone.

One Friday evening I came home from work to find a big beautiful German shepherd(牧羊犬) on our doorstep. It was obvious he wanted to make the house his home. The children took an instant liking to "German" and begged me to let him in. I agreed to let him sleep in the basement until the next day. That night I slept peacefully for the first time in many weeks.

The following morning we made phone calls and checked lost-and-found ads for German’s owner, but with no results. Saturday night he was still with us. 

On Sunday I had planned to take the children on a picnic. Since I thought it best to leave German behind in case his owner came by, we drove off without him. When we stopped to get gas at a local station, we were amazed to see German racing to the gas station after us. He stayed again Sunday night.  

Monday morning I let him out for a run while the children got ready for school. He didn’t come back. We thought we’d never see him again. On Friday evening, German was back again. We took him in, and again he stayed until Monday morning, when our housekeeper arrived. It went like this for almost 10 months. We looked forward to his coming each Monday morning he left home.

Each week, between German's visits, I grew a little braver, but every weekend I enjoyed his company. Then one Monday morning we patted his head and let him out for what turned out to be the last time. He never came back. 

1.What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?

A．trying to keep calm in public               B．trying to get attention from other men

C．showing her high spirit in the face of trouble   D．managing to continue to live

2.When the author’s husband died, ______.

A．she couldn’t raise the six children on her own

B．she couldn’t relax on the weekends

C．The housekeeper only came on weekends

D．she was too busy to feel lonely

3.Which of the following is Wrong according to the article?

A．German was fond of living with the family.

B．The writer felt safe and protected with German around.

C．The dog stayed until the writer was strong enough to go on alone.

D．The writer was too busy that weekend to go find the dog’s owner.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

A．A homeless dog                        B．A friend’s strength

C．How to keep a dog                      D．Keep up when in trouble

 
Tired of bad handwriting, Richie decided to perfect his penmanship (书法) last January. Though the year progressed, his writing didn’t. “My penmanship just got worse,” he says. “I get tired of trying to write neatly.”
Like Richie, many teenagers make resolutions in the New Year. More than half of Americans say they make a New Year’s resolution – but only one-third of them keep to it, reports the University of North Carolina, US.
Demanding (追求) perfection  stops people working on their resolutions, says Chicago life coach Alison Miller.
Resolutions sometimes can be unrealistic (不现实).. Going for a goal  that’s too hard to achieve can leave a person feeling sad. “Saying ‘I’m going to look like a super-model’ is going to make you unhappy,” she says.
Sure, it’s a great idea to aim for improvement, but not all resolutions are helpful. The difference between good and bad resolutions is whether you expect too much from yourself, Miller says. For example, it’s OK to say, “I’m going to eat fewer French fries,” but striving (力争)  for a perfect body isn’t reasonable.
Timing can also damage a resolution. Kevin M., 16, says he doesn't set resolutions because 12 months is unrealistic. “It’s too long and you start putting off keeping your resolution during summer,” he says.
He’s considering a career in music, but says school is his main focus. Knowing how hard he has to work, he says he’ll “be lucky to get 30 minutes a day” of practice. But a bit is better than nothing, and making reminders can help you make progress. Miller says teenagers should write down their goals and say to themselves, “What can I do today to make my goal a reality?”
“It’s just small steps along the way. It’s not about doing it all at once,” Miller says.
【小题1】What’s the writer’s purpose by talking Richie in the first paragraph?

Tired of bad handwriting, Richie decided to perfect his penmanship (书法) last January. Though the year progressed, his writing didn’t. “My penmanship just got worse,” he says. “I get tired of trying to write neatly.”

Like Richie, many teenagers make resolutions in the New Year. More than half of Americans say they make a New Year’s resolution – but only one-third of them keep to it, reports the University of North Carolina, US.

Demanding (追求) perfection  stops people working on their resolutions, says Chicago life coach Alison Miller.

Resolutions sometimes can be unrealistic (不现实).. Going for a goal  that’s too hard to achieve can leave a person feeling sad. “Saying ‘I’m going to look like a super-model’ is going to make you unhappy,” she says.

Sure, it’s a great idea to aim for improvement, but not all resolutions are helpful. The difference between good and bad resolutions is whether you expect too much from yourself, Miller says. For example, it’s OK to say, “I’m going to eat fewer French fries,” but striving (力争)  for a perfect body isn’t reasonable.

Timing can also damage a resolution. Kevin M., 16, says he doesn't set resolutions because 12 months is unrealistic. “It’s too long and you start putting off keeping your resolution during summer,” he says.

He’s considering a career in music, but says school is his main focus. Knowing how hard he has to work, he says he’ll “be lucky to get 30 minutes a day” of practice. But a bit is better than nothing, and making reminders can help you make progress. Miller says teenagers should write down their goals and say to themselves, “What can I do today to make my goal a reality?”

“It’s just small steps along the way. It’s not about doing it all at once,” Miller says.

1.What’s the writer’s purpose by talking Richie in the first paragraph?

A．To advise people to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

B．To show that some people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

C．To tell readers why Richie isn’t a good hand writer.

D．To show why New Year’s resolutions are important.

2.Many Americans stop working on their New Year’s resolutions because ______.

A．they think it is silly to make resolutions

B．they find keeping resolutions is boring

C．the time of keeping resolutions is too short

D．their choice of resolution turns out to be unrealistic

3.Which of the following statements would Miller probably agree with?

A．Teenagers should set themselves perfect goals.

B．To achieve your goals, you needn’t write them down.

C．People should try to realize their goals step by step.

D．A good resolution helps people realize their possibility.