Most of us know little about the mental processes that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists are finding may help us all make better choices. Here are some of their amazing discoveries to help you make up your mind.
Consider your emotions. You might think that emotions are the enemy of decision making, but in fact they’re a part of it. Whenever you make up your mind, your brain’s emotional center is active. University of Southern California scientist, Antonio Damasio, has studied people with damage to only the emotional parts of their brains, and found that they were unable to make basic choices about what to wear or eat. Damasio thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choices, which we use to help the present decision making.
However, making choices under the influence of an emotion can greatly affect the result. Take anger, for example. A study by Nitika Garg of the University of Mississippi and other scientists found the angry shoppers were more likely to choose the first thing they were offered rather than considering other choices. It seems anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking.
All emotions affect our thinking and motivation, so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence. Yet strangely there’s one emotion that seems to help us make good choices. The American researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various choices on offer, and ended up making the best choices. In fact many studies show that people who feel unhappy have the most reasonable view of the world.
【小題1】According to the text, what may help us make better decisions?

A．To think about happy times.
B．To make many decisions at a time.
C．To stop feeling regretful about the past.
D．To learn about the process of decision-making.
【小題2】Damasio’s study suggests that ______.
A．emotions are the enemy of decision making
B．our brain has nothing to do with decision making
C．people with physical damage find it hard to make up their minds
D．our emotional memories of past choices can affect present decisions
【小題3】Why are angry shoppers more likely to choose the first thing they are offered?
A．They often forget their past choices.
B．They make decisions without much thinking.
C．They tend to save time when shopping.
D．They are too angry to bargain.
【小題4】What do we learn from the text?
A．Emotions are a part of decision making.
B．Sad people always make the worst choices.
C．No emotion seems to help us make good choices.
D．Only sad feelings affect our thinking and motivation.


【小題1】D
【小題2】D
【小題3】B
【小題4】A

解析試題分析：本文是通過探究從影響我們做決定或選擇的因素上出發(fā)，闡述思維過程的重要性。
【小題1】總結(jié)歸納題。根據(jù)第一段Most of us know little about the mental processes that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists are finding may help us all make better choices.可知文章突出的是過程的重要性。答案為D。
【小題2】細(xì)節(jié)題：根據(jù)第二段最后一句Damasio thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choices, which we use to help the present decision making.講的是過去做過的決定對(duì)現(xiàn)在的決定通常會(huì)有影響。故答案為D。
【小題3】細(xì)節(jié)題：根據(jù)第三段最后一句It seems anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking，正是生氣讓那些購物的人不去多做決定。答案選B。
【小題4】主旨題： 根據(jù)第四段All emotions affect our thinking and motivation, so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence.歸納出情緒對(duì)我們做決定的重要性。答案選A。
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Science Daily—Kids may roll their eyes when their mothers asks them about their school day, but answering her may actually help them learn. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom.
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【小題1】According to the passage, a mom had better ________.

A．give a kid some help when he is explaining his problem
B．just listen while a kid is explaining his problem
C．work together with a kid toward the solution to a problem
D．leave a kid alone when he meets a problem at school
【小題2】 If she wants to help a child with his schoolwork, a mom ________.
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B．should pay attention to the child’s feedback.
C．may not know the answer herself
D．should not interrupt the child
【小題3】Who will be the least help to a kid when he is explaining, according to Rittle-Johnson?
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B．The kid’s grandmother.
C．A peer.
D．A relative the kid doesn’t know.
【小題4】Which of the following best gives the main idea of the passage?
A．Children learn better when their mom is hearing their explaining.
B．Children learn better if they find the solution to a problem themselves.
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Some say college is wasted on the young. So many of us look back at our own college years and realize what we could have done differently to make the most of them. While we can’t go back, we certainly can offer our sons and daughters our best advice to help them make the right choices in college. Hopefully, they will have fewer regrets than we do. Following are five guidelines parents can share with their college-bound kids to put the whole experience in perspective.
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As soon as you arrive on campus, there will be competing interests. Feel free to check them out but always remember that you are there first and foremost for your education. Go to class prepared and on time. Be engaged during class. Make sure your professor knows you and realizes that you care.
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TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY
Incredible opportunities will present themselves: studying abroad, interning at a unique place, trying new things. Don’t let fear prevent you from taking advantage of them. There may never be so much time or as many resources devoted to your betterment again in your life. Say yes to opportunities that will help you grow.
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Some of the best lessons available to us can come outside of the classroom in the form of a mentor. One of the most powerful growth opportunities is being a mentor. Early on, find someone on campus who you feel can help you grow and develop a relationship with him or her. Also find someone for you to mentor. You will reinforce and enrich your own learning experience by teaching someone else.
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【小題2】Which of the following about college life is true?
A．Passing on what you’ve learned in college can help you enrich your learning experience.
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C．Professors will not assess your performances in class but the grades you get in exams.
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【小題3】What can we infer from the words said by Jocelyn in the last paragraph?
A．Persistence is the key to success when you meet with difficulties in your learning process.
B．It is better if you gain more working experience before you finish your education.
C．As long as you work hard, you can gain a degree even when you are in your thirties.
D．Youth is the best time to learn since you have less burden.
【小題4】What is the main purpose of the passage?
A．To give some rules for the college students.
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Online Degrees
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Online Learning Programs
With a computer and an Internet connection, you can earn a degree from home, work, or anywhere else for that matter. Online degree programs follow much the same routines as traditional learning, with a few twists. There are lectures, but they won't be in person. There are assignments (作業(yè)) , but you won't hand them to your instructor. In most situations, you are free to "go to class" when it fits your"schedule. If you get a phone call during class, you don't have to miss anything. If you get sick, you don't have to ask for someone's notes, and you just visit the lecture later.
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It may seem simple-a good school will have a good online program. This reputation,however, may not be as straightforward as you think. It's not uncommon for a great school to have a weak program or two. So you'd better look at the overall quality of the school and make a judgment.
The Employers' View
As more and more employees get online degrees and use them in the workforce(職場(chǎng)) ,  hiring managers will begin to feel more secure about the quality of education these people have.
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B．There are lectures, but you don't need to meet the lecturers.
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D．There are assignments, and you must hand them to your instructor.
【小題2】What is the most important part of online communication?
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C．To use chat rooms and instant messaging.
D．To use teleconferencing and video conferencing.
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As a senior, my future is always on my mind. To be exact, thoughts of the future have kept me up countless nights and made me worry enough to do poorly on more than one test. Because of this, words of wisdom are a source of comfort. Steve Jobs gave a speech to Stanford’s graduating class in 2005 and his words resound repeatedly in my mind whenever I think about my future.
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Jobs talked about the hardships in his work. His love of his work helped him carry on and he got where he was meant to be, which restates the point: don’t panic.
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【小題1】The author felt worried when _________.

A．he had to take tests at school B．he thought about his future 
C．he had lots of sleepless nights D．he searched for words of wisdom 
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A．Courage to drop out of school. B．Confidence in defeating Jobs. 
C．Interest in computer industry. D．Bravery to face uncertainties. 
【小題3】What did NOT Steve Jobs encourage students to do in his speech?
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Researchers at the institute note that babies are strongly influenced by their environment. They say a baby will smile if her mother does something the baby likes. A baby learns to get the best care possible by smiling to please her mother or other caregiver. This is how babies learn to connect and communicate with other people.
The researchers say this ability to learn exists in a baby even before birth. They say newborn babies can recognize and understand sounds they heard while they were still developing inside their mothers.
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【小題1】According to the passage, some people used to think that babies began to learn _________.

A．on their first day of lifeB．even before they were born
C．before five or six months oldD．a(chǎn)t or after five or six months old
【小題2】Babies learn to connect and communicate with other people through_____________.
A．smilesB．criesC．facial expressionsD．body language
【小題3】The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development tries to find out ________.
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A．The evaluation method of the tests.
B．The cause of low birth weight babies.
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D．The evidence proving babies began to learn before birth.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A—F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
A. When a child should learn to read
B. Why it is fun to teach a child reading
C. What if a child has reading problems
D. How you prepare a young child for reading
E. What is the best way to teach a child reading
F. Whether reading early promises later achievements
【小題1】                  
Learning to read early has become one of those indicators—in parents' minds at least—that their child is smart. In fact, reading early has very little to do with whether a child is successful academically. Research has shown that difficulty with reading is often due not to inferior intelligence but to differences in the developmental wiring of each individual child. In some cases, there are neurological problems and developmental lags that can be overcome with proper training.
【小題2】               
Traditionally, American schools teach children at age six, but many schools begin teaching informally in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten. If parents start too early to encourage reading, and a child does not immediately succeed, the parent has a hard time relaxing and letting the child go at his or her own pace.
【小題3】               
Over the years, research has proved that the use of both the “whole language” method and the “phonic” method works best for a child to master reading. While the whole language approach, which includes reading to children and getting them interested in both the activity of reading and the story they are reading, is helpful, phonics must be taught. Children must be taught that one of the squiggles they see is a “p” and another a “b”. Getting the print off the page requires a different ability than being able to understand the meaning of what is written.
【小題4】               
You can start developing the skills needed in reading at a very young age without putting any pressure on children. Besides reading to them, parents can start “ear training” their child by playing rhyme games. This develops the child's ability to recognize different sounds. In reading to children, parents also can point to words as they go, teaching the child that the funny lines on the page are the words you are saying. All this should be a fun activity.
【小題5】               
Once a child is in school, the learning of reading is inevitably more serious. For children who have some kind of reading difficulty, you must get a professional diagnosis. While the teacher might say the child is merely disinterested but will get over it, disinterest or poor performance in reading can stem from a number of things, some being very specific learning disabilities that can be identified and worked on. But it is very tricky for parents to deal with their own child's learning disabilities.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Most American schools have boys and girls in the same classroom. But a public high school in the small, rural town of Boonsboro, Maryland, offers a special program called the Academy. Top students in the ninth and tenth grades can attend single-sex classes for math, science, English and social studies.
The aim is to help teenagers keep their mind on their work by keeping males and females apart. What they really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve there, so that they’re prepared for college.
Students are invited to enter this program after they finish middle school, and placement in the Academy is voluntary. However, they need high marks and test scores and strong teacher recommendations. They also need to be involved in activities.
Almost 350 students have taken part in the Academy. It began as an experiment in 2010.
Michael Bair has been at Boonsboro High for twenty years and directs the Academy. His ninth-grade English class for boys centers on books that he believes boys find interesting. He says that the novels the students are reading now are very manly (男子氣概的) novels. These novels deal with the arrogance (傲慢) of man and the pride of man which finally leads to man’s downfall.
One of those books, for example, is The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This classic story tells of a dog stolen from his home and sold to work as a sled dog in Canada’s Klondike Gold Rush.
Morgan Fleet, a senior at Boonsboro High, likes being in the Academy. She says boys and girls act differently when they are together in a classroom. She believes this difference seems to prevent her from developing herself because she’s more focused on thoughts like “Oh, I wish they would shut up. Oh, what do they think of me?’’ instead of focusing on “What’s the homework? What’s going on in this class? What’s the lesson?”.
There is one activity that girls and boys in the Academy do together. At the end of the day, many of them stay and help tutor students who are having trouble in school.
【小題1】What is the purpose of the Academy program?

A．To offer a special program in high school.
B．To help students concentrate on study.
C．To strengthen sex education for teenagers.
D．To start learning college courses earlier.
【小題2】To enter the Academy program, students are NOT required to _________.
A．do well in their studyB．be recommended by teachers
C．take part in some activitiesD．have worked as volunteers
【小題3】The Call of the Wild is given as an example to show that male students ___.
A．should learn more about literature
B．should have a sense of protecting the wildlife
C．a(chǎn)re reading more manly novels
D．a(chǎn)re interested in stories on animals
【小題4】Which is likely to be Morgan Fleet’s opinion?
A．A girl cares about the boys’ opinions of her.
B．Single-sex classes should be stopped.
C．Girls are more focused when studying with boys.
D．Boys and girls act the same in separate classrooms.
【小題5】The passage is intended to _________.
A．introduce the single-sex class project
B．explain the differences between boys and girls
C．persuade students to enter the Academy program
D．urge students to work hard in their study

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Hundreds of secondary schools are using a controversial reward scheme which “bribes” (賄賂)pupils with iPods and DVD players to turn up in classes and do homework.
Almost one million schoolchildren have been issued with supermarket-style reward cards which allow them to collect good-behavior “points” and cash them in for prizes.
Schools taking part in the “Vivo Miles” scheme are spending several thousand pounds a year in an attempt to cut truancy (逃學(xué)) and promote achievements. The prizes are ultimately funded by the taxpayer, through school budgets. Nearly 500 secondary schools, one in six, have decided to take part in the scheme, which is intended to replace old-style rewards such as stickers and golden stars.
But the extent of rewards being offered in schools brought a warning that a generation of children is growing up expecting to be rewarded at every stage. Many youngsters are collecting points for ordinary achievements such as remembering to bring their PE kit and wearing the correct uniform.
Under the scheme, teachers award Vivo points—worth 1 penny each—according to the school’s policy. Schools typically spend￡4 to￡6 on prizes per pupil each year, although some commit considerably more. Most pupils accumulate between 400 and 600 Vivos a year. Vivo Miles insists it is “pretty rare” for a pupil to accumulate enough points to buy an iPod, which requires 3,100 Vivos.
But Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the scheme amounted to “bribery”. “It misleads children into thinking anything which requires effort has to have a special reward,” he said. “This ‘a(chǎn)ll must have prizes’ view is damaging to children in the long-term.” The scheme amounted to an “admission of failure” by schools. He said. “It shows a school has failed to convince children education is important.”
【小題1】The “Vivo Miles” scheme is aimed at ______________.

A．increasing the income of the school
B．encouraging students to perform well at school
C．inviting more students to attend the school nearby
D．encouraging parents to donate to the school
【小題2】Those who oppose the “Vivo Miles” scheme think ______________.
A．it helps control the problem of truancy
B．it teaches children the importance of saving
C．it will mislead children about efforts and rewards
D．it’s not easy to get more than 600 Vivos a year
【小題3】What’s the writer’s attitude towards the scheme?
A．Supportive.B．Opposed.C．Unconcerned.D．Objective.

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