Endless playing of songs like All I Want For Christmas in shops during the festive season doesn’t just drive us mad—the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned.
While repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers’ spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact.
“Background music, or ‘muzak’, can be used by marketers to impose cultures—such as the commercialization of Christmas—onto consumers and influence their behaviour, ”experts said.
Dr. Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said, “Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to control your shopping habits in a way that you might hardly be aware of.”
“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears.”
Dr. Bradshaw and Prof Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour.
It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time examining the shelves, for example.
Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers.
“A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways,” Dr Bradshaw said.
Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honor of the Seattle-based company which began producing its soft-sounding melodies in the 1930s.
小題1:According to Dr. Bradshaw, in what ways does Christmas music influence customers?
①their mood ②their income ③their sense of time ④the sort of products they buy
A．①②③B．①③④C．②③④D．①②④
小題2:Shopkers slow down the rhythm of music in shops to__________.
A．let customers spend more time shopping
B．make customers and sales assistants relaxed
C．let customers enjoy the beautiful music
D．help customers find what they really want
小題3:What kind of music is now often adapted to influence customers in shops?
A．Classical music.B．Popular modern songs.
C．Folk songs.D．Jazz music.

小題1:B
小題2:A
小題3:B

試題分析：圣誕節(jié)期間商店里不斷播放的圣誕歌曲不但讓我們情緒高漲，而且還會(huì)在無(wú)形中刺激我們的購(gòu)物欲望。
小題1:考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第四段內(nèi)容Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy.可知，這些喜慶的歌曲，會(huì)改變圣誕購(gòu)物者的心情，影響他們的時(shí)間概念和他們購(gòu)買的產(chǎn)品種類，①③④都是對(duì)的，故選B。
小題2:考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第七段內(nèi)容It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time examining the shelves,可知，放慢商店里的音樂(lè)節(jié)奏能讓顧客誤以為時(shí)間過(guò)得更慢，這樣顧客可能就會(huì)花更多時(shí)間來(lái)仔細(xì)查看貨架上的商品。故選擇A項(xiàng)。
小題3:考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)文章倒數(shù)第二段A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version….可知，一個(gè)常見(jiàn)的訣竅是把當(dāng)前的熱門歌曲拿來(lái)錄制器樂(lè)版，可以在一天當(dāng)中的不同時(shí)段放慢或加快音樂(lè)節(jié)奏，從而對(duì)顧客的行為產(chǎn)生不同的影響。故選擇B項(xiàng)。
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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B．Many people are fond of smartphones．
C．The selfie will take over everything．
D．The selfie is an important new word．
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C．desire to share good things
D．mean to amuse the public
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A．publisherB．greenhandC．novelistD．celebrity
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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D．requires factories to produce high-quality products
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A．People prefer to buy a new blender rather than repair the broken one.
B．A large quantity of food has been wasted.
C．People believe that the more they have, the happier they will be.
D．People all hold the belief that money comes first.
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A．Supportive.B．Critical.C．Tolerant.D．Optimistic.

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78% said it was a good place to raise children.
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70% said because you have control of your own space.
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A．People in Los Angeles earn high incomes because of its low homeownership rate.
B．New York’s low homeownership rate increases people’s happiness levels.
C．Detroit’s high level of homeownership causes its economic problems.
D．St. Louis has a higher level of homeownership than Los Angeles.
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C．Detroit’s economy is healthier than New York’s economy
D．New York and Los Angeles are happiest cities
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B．Who did the experiments?
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D．Why did they do the experiments?
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C．A crying face.D．An angry face.
小題3:Which of the following about the experiment is TRUE?
A．The trustworthy faces were given good information.
B．Researchers took photos of the 40 people’s faces in college.
C．Most participants gave their money to the trustworthy-looking faces.
D．Participants liked to choose the faces with good information.
小題4:What did the researchers learn from their experiment?
A．People can’t refuse temptations.
B．People always do things with their instincts.
C．People often judge strangers by their faces.
D．People don’t trust strangers with sad faces.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Do you want to love what you do for a living? Follow your passion. This piece of advice provides the foundation for modern thinking on career satisfaction. But this can be a problem.
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Passion is elusive (難捉摸的). Many people develop the rare and valuable skills leading to passion, but still end up unhappy in their work. The problem is that the features leading you to love your work are more likely to be useful to you than your organization. As you become increasingly “valuable”，for example, your boss might push you toward traditional promotions that come with more pay and more responsibility, as this is what is most useful to your company. However, you might find more passion by applying your value to gain autonomy in your schedule or project selection.
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A．Figuring out early what one will do in the future.
B．Matching the pre-existing passion to one's work.
C．Developing passion for what one is doing.
D．Discovering skills that lead to interesting careers.
小題3: The underlined sentence in Para. 5 probably means that _______.
A．it is not easy to match our passion with our jobs
B．we shouldn't think everyone has a pre-existing passion
C．workplace happiness does not require a pre-existing passion
D．high expectations of passion in jobs bring disappointment
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Transportation and communication networks bring people together. Yet sometimes people themselves create barriers to transportation and communication. In some countries, laws stop people from moving freely from place to place.
Over the centuries, many groups of people have been denied the freedom to travel because of their race, religion, or nationality. In the Middle Ages, for example, Jews were often forbidden to move about freely within certain cities. South Africa's government used to require black Africans to carry passes when they travel within the country. Some governments require all citizens to carry identification papers and to report to government officials whenever they move.
Countries set up Customs posts at their borders. Foreign travellers must go through a Customs inspection before they are allowed to travel in the country. Usually travellers have to carry special papers such as passports and visas(簽證). Some countries even limit the number of visitors to their country each year.  Others allow tourists to visit only certain areas of the country, or they may require that travellers be with an official guide at all times during their stay.
Many of those barriers to travel also act as barriers to communication. When two governments disagree with each other on important matters, they usually do not want their citizens to exchange news or ideas freely. Countries often try to keep military or industrial information secret.
Today, people have the ability to travel, to communicate, and to transport goods more quickly and easily than ever before. Natural barriers that were difficult or dangerous to cross a hundred years ago can now be crossed easily. The barriers that people themselves make are not so easy to overcome. But in spite of all the different kinds of barriers, people continue to enjoy travel and the exchange of goods and ideas.
小題1:The examples in paragraph 2 are used to tell the readers that _______      
A．Customs posts are necessary at the borders of the countries
B．people have been allowed to travel freely within the country
C．people have not been permitted to travel freely for various reasons
D．travellers have to carry special papers such as passports and visas
小題2:Some governments limit the freedom of communication because___        
A．they think such freedom will lead to wars
B．they more often than not agree with each other on important matters
C．they intend to keep their national secrets unknown to others
D．they want to show their authority over communication
小題3:We may learn from the passage that _______   
A．people do not care about the removal of barriers between countries.
B．people can not remove the obstacles made by themselves
C．barriers should be taken for granted as they always exist
D．man-made barriers are sometimes harder to overcome than natural ones
小題4:Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage?
A．Functions of CommunicationB．Barriers Made by People
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Last night I drove a long way (about 500 km) to return home. It was late and I was driving fast because I wanted to get home as soon as possible. So several times when I was driving behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road, I wanted to shout at the driver ahead.
Then I came to a crossroad with a traffic light. As I drove near, it turned red. I stopped my car at once. I looked left，right and behind. I found no cars or persons — I was alone on the road. The person who would come to the crossroad was at least a mile away in any direction. Certainly going through the light would cause no danger. I could pass the traffic light. But strangely enough, I just stopped there, waiting for several minutes until the light went green. I asked myself why I refused to run the light. Surely it was unnecessary for me to be afraid of danger or being fined (罰款), because there were no cars or police around at all. But I remained waiting until the light changed.
When I finally got home, it was near midnight. My wife had fallen asleep. The question of why I stopped for that light came back to me again, because I stopped another two times for the red lights as “special” as the first one. I stopped, not because of the law, but because it was a good habit I had developed. In fact, we were used to doing something right just because we have made obeying the rules a good habit. We do it just because we should do it. I thought if another man met with the same thing, he would make the same choice. I believed so. And I could be trusted (信任) by others. I believed that everyone would and could control (控制) himself/herself well. It was amazing that we trusted each other to do the right things, wasn’t it?
小題1:When the author drove behind the slow-moving truck, he felt ____.
A．confused but happyB．sleepy and tiredC．excited but tiredD．a(chǎn)ngry and worried
小題2:Who made the author stopped at the crossroad?
A．A policeman.B．The author’s wife.C．The author himself.D．Another driver.
小題3:The author waited until the light went green because ____.
A．running the light would make him finedB．he was afraid to cause an accident
C．he was prevented by the passers-byD．he was used to obeying traffic rules
小題4:The author is a person who ____.
A．believes others easily B．can control himself well
C．treats others very unfriendly D．is very experienced in driving
小題5: We can infer from the passage that ____.
A．running the light could help the author get home earlier
B．the author’s wife was angry because he got home late
C．the truck driver in front of the author might be drunk
D．it was very necessary to have very strict traffic rules

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A capsule inn is a kind of cheap and small hotel where people just sleep in rectangular containers(容器). After experiencing popularity in Japan for more than 30 years, capsule inns have now entered the Chinese market. This new style is becoming popular with many visitors, but some are less than what they expected. The capsule inn covers an area of more than 300 square meters, with 68 very small bedrooms for guests to rest. Each room is 2.2 meters long and about 1 meter wide.
As small as the capsules are, they provide more than enough daily necessities(必需品) for visitors. They do have plenty of functions. Each includes independent power sockets, clocks, lights, and flat screen televisions. People can also enjoy wireless Internet service. The basic fee(費(fèi)用) for each capsule is 28 yuan, and guests will be asked to pay an extra 4 yuan every hour. The highest cost could reach 88 yuan per day.
Ta Zan, capsule inn Manager, said, “Capsule inns are similar to Internet cafes. When they first appeared more than 10 years ago, people thought they might not succeed. But now it’s a common thing in our lives.” He believes that more capsule inns will open around the nation very soon. He is sure about the future of his business.
小題1:How much will you pay if you want to stay in a capsule inn for 12 hours?
A．88 yuan B．76 yuanC．28 yuanD．4 yuan.
小題2: What does the underlined word “functions” mean in Chinese?
A．價(jià)格B．功能C．方法D．需求
小題3:For whom, a capsule inn is a good choice while traveling around?
A．A family who like to cook by themselves.
B．A young student who likes watching TV or surfing on the Internet.
C．An old man who would like to stay in a big house with his wife.
D．A business man who wants to have a meeting with others.
小題4:Why does the manager compare(比較) his inn to Internet cafes?
A．Because he thinks they are similar in shape.
B．Because he knows Internet cafes were popular 10 years ago.
C．Because he thinks capsule inns are a common thing in our lives.
D．Because he believes both will have good development.

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