Early fifth-century philosopher St. Augustine famously wrote that he knew what time was unless someone asked him. Albert Einstein added another wrinkle when he theorized that time varies depending on where you measure it. Today’s state-of-the-art atomic(原子的) clocks have proven Einstein right. Even advanced physics can’t decisively tell us what time is, because the answer depends on the question you’re asking.
Forget about time as an absolute. What if, instead of considering time in terms of astronomy, we related time to ecology? What if we allowed environmental conditions to set the tempo(节奏) of human life? We’re increasingly aware of the fact that we can’t control Earth systems with engineering alone, and realizing that we need to moderate(调节) our actions if we hope to live in balance. What if our definition of time reflected that?
Recently, I conceptualized a new approach to timekeeping that’s connected to circumstances on our planet, conditions that might change as a result of global warming. We’re now building a clock at the Anchorage Museum that reflects the total flow of several major Alaskan rivers, which are sensitive to local and global environmental changes. We’ve programmed it to match an atomic clock if the waterways continue to flow at their present rate. If the rivers run faster in the future on average, the clock will get ahead of standard time. If they run slower, you’ll see the opposite effect.
The clock registers both short-term irregularities and long-term trends in river dynamics. It’s a sort of observatory that reveals how the rivers are behaving from their own temporal frame(时间框架), and allows us to witness those changes on our smartwatches or phones. Anyone who opts to go on Alaska Mean River Time will live in harmony with the planet. Anyone who considers river time in relation to atomic time will encounter a major imbalance and may be motivated to counteract it by consuming less fuel or supporting greener policies.
Even if this method of timekeeping is novel in its particulars, early agricultural societies also connected time to natural phenomena. In pre-Classical Greece, for instance, people “corrected” official calendars by shifting dates forward or backward to reflect the change of season. Temporal connect ion to the environment was vital to their survival. Likewise, river. time and other timekeeping systems we’re developing may encourage environmental awareness.
When St. Augustine admitted his inability to define time, he highlighted one of time’s most noticeable qualities: Time becomes meaningful only in a defined context. Any timekeeping system is valid, and each is as praiseworthy as its purpose.
【小题1】What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?A.Everyone can define time on their own terms. |
B.Timekeeping is increasingly related to nature. |
C.The qualities of time vary with how you measure it. |
D.Time is a major concern of philosophers and scientists |
A.evaluate an argument |
B.introduce an approach |
C.present an assumption |
D.highlight an experiment |
A.Those who do not go on river time will live an imbalanced life. |
B.New ways of measuring time can help to control Earth systems. |
C.Atomic time will get ahead of river time if the rivers run slower. |
D.Modern technology may help to shape the rivers’ temporal frame. |
A.History is a mirror reflecting reality. |
B.We should live in harmony with nature. |
C.A fixed frame will make time meaningless. |
D.It is crucial to improve the definition of time. |
◆ Form a hypothesis (假设). It is an educated guess about what will happen during the study.
◆ Plan out a study. Planning out the experiment is essential because the psychologist needs to know if they have time, materials, and testing area prepared beforehand. This step also helps the scientist to determine if they will be performing descriptive or experimental research. The ideal situation is to always perform experimental research.
◆ Collect data.
◆ Analyze the data. Once all the data has been collected and organized, it must be analyzed. Using previous research or scientific information about the problem, the psychologist must apply the new data gathered.
◆ Publish the information learned. The final step of the scientific method in psychology is publishing the results of the study.
A.It is based on scientific facts, not just opinions. |
B.Read on to find out how to use the scientific method in psychology. |
C.Before psychologists start the experiment, they must plan out the steps. |
D.This helps other psychologists to learn about and use the new information. |
E.The scientific method has proved to be an effective way to conduct research. |
F.To fully understand the study, each part of the experiment must be recorded. |
G.Sometimes, however, this is impossible and descriptive research will have to be used. |
For adults, communicating in our first language feels easy and natural. Yet learning language is a complex process that is influenced by several factors. When young children are beginning to learn language, some influences, such as the amount of speech a child hears and the amount of time they spend in back-and-forth language interactions with others, have what may appear to be obvious connections to language learning. Perhaps less obvious is that children’s own physical experiences with their environment help them learn new words.
In new research in the cognitive sciences, we investigated how this is the case by considering how children learn words that refer to something they can touch, grasp and interact with. We asked parents to rate how easily a child can physically interact with the object, idea or experiences that a word refers to. We found words that refer to objects that are easy for children to interact with are also words that are learned at an earlier age.
For instance, a word such as spoon is usually learned earlier than a word such as sky. And this relationship remains even when we consider other things that can affect word learning, such as how common a word is in everyday language. Words such as spoon and sky are both relevant to everyday life, and so children will probably hear those words quite early in their development. One difference between them is that spoon refers to something they can touch, grasp and interact with, whereas sky does not.
Our findings agree with those of studies where babies wore small head-mounted body cameras to record their interactions with objects. Those studies show that the children’s own physical experiences helps them learn new words. For instance, in one study researchers found that 18-month-old babies were more likely to learn the name of a new object when they held that object, and less likely to learn the name if their parent held the new object. Another study found that 15-month-olds who spent more time using new objects had learned more nouns by the time they were 21 months old.
【小题1】What is the aim of the new research?A.To see if babies’ physical experiences help them learn new words. |
B.To investigate how a baby learns names of everyday objects. |
C.To find out what influences a baby’s language learning. |
D.To study how a baby interacts with everyday objects. |
A.Bag. | B.Heart. | C.Milk. | D.Leaf. |
A.To further support their finding. | B.To summarize the research result. |
C.To point out new research directions. | D.To introduce results of other findings. |
A.The author is a parent. | B.The author is a researcher. |
C.The author is a professor. | D.The author is a journalist. |
”Did you hear what happened to Adam last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.
With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did. Sean told me two days ago.”
Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happens to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip. I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.
An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic — breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out — that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.
If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.” In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority(优越感).
Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do’s and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.
The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.
【小题1】The author uses a conversation at the beginning of the passage to ________.A.introduce a topic | B.present an argument |
C.describe the characters | D.clarify his writing purpose |
A.breaks up relationships | B.embarrasses the listener |
C.spreads information around | D.causes unpleasant experiences |
A.gives them a feeling of pleasure | B.helps them to make more friends |
C.makes them better at telling stories | D.enables them to meet important people |
A.Never become a gossiper. | B.Stay away from gossipers. |
C.Don’t let gossip turn into lies. | D.Think twice before you gossip. |
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