Your brain controls everything you do. It makes it possible for you to think, learn, create and feel; to blink(眨眼)and breathe and for your heart to beat--this fantastic control center is your brain. It is so amazing that a famous scientist once called it “the most complex (复杂) thing we have yet discovered in our universe.”
Can this small grey organ (器官) , which weighs less than one and a half kilos, really do so much? Amazingly, your brain contains about 100 billion neurons (神经元) --it would take you over 3,000 years to count them all. Believe it or not, the activity in your brain never stops. Your neurons create and send more messages than all the phones in the world. And although one neuron create only a little electricity, all your neurons together can produce enough electricity to power a light bulb (灯泡).
So exactly how fast does your brain work? Well, imagine this: a bee lands on your foot. Neurons in your skin send this information to your brain at a speed of more than 240 kilometers per hour, Your brain then uses other neurons to send the message back to your foot to shake the bee off quickly. These neurons can send this information at more than 320 kilometers per hour. No computer has your brain's unbelievable ability to deal with the amount of information coming from your eyes, ears and other sensory organs.
But how does your brain allow you to learn things that you will use in the future? The structure(结构)of your brain changes every time you have a new thought, remember or learn something. For example, riding a bike seems impossible at first, but soon you are able to do it. How? As you practice, your brain sends “bike riding” messages again and again. Soon, the actions are learnt and you are able to ride a bike easily from then on.
【小题1】From the passage we know that neurons ________ .| A．receive messages very slowly | B．are only found in your skin |
| C．send messages to your brain | D．need electricity to work |
| A．compare them with the human brain | B．show how fast they have become |
| C．say that computers have no abilities | D．ask people to use computers more |
| A．your brain will power a light bulb | B．your heart beats faster |
| C．you remember something | D．the structure of your brain changes |
| A．all the steps when your brain learns things |
| B．what an unbelievable organ the human brain is |
| C．how the brain makes people smarter than computers |
| D．the things you can do to make your brain work faster |
①Why do we do the things we do? What drives our behavior? Researchers have suggested different ways of thinking about motivation (动机), including looking at whether motivation comes from outside or inside a person.
②Extrinsic (外来的) motivation is when you decide to do something because you want to get a reward or avoid punishment. Intrinsic (内在的) motivation is when you do something because you find it enjoyable. The behavior itself is its own reward.
③There are many advantages of intrinsic motivation. Firstly, it’s lasting. It makes people willing to face challenges and work hard to achieve their goals. Besides, people with intrinsic motivation have a greater sense of satisfaction.
④Most people think intrinsic motivation is best, but it is not always possible in every situation. Sometimes a person has an unpleasant task and he may not have internal (内部的) wish to complete it. That’s when we need extrinsic motivation. But studies have shown that offering too many external (外部的) reward can reduce (减少) intrinsic motivation. For example, in a study, they became less interested in the toys.
⑤Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation play a key role in learning. Experts have argued that traditional education pays too much attention to external rewards, such as grades. This undermines the intrinsic motivation that students might already have. However, others have suggested that extrinsic motivation can help students feel more knowledgeable in class. It helps to build up their intrinsic motivation.
⑥Understanding how each type of motivation works and when it is likely to be useful can help people complete tasks and improve their learning.
【小题1】Which of the following is intrinsic motivation?| A．Mike practices chess because he wants the first prize. |
| B．Frank studies math hard because he thinks it’s fun. |
| C．Linda cleans her room to avoid being punished. |
| D．Jenny reads books to get good grades in Chinese. |
| A．By telling stories. | B．By listing numbers. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Argues. | B．Reduces. | C．Encourages. | D．Suggests. |
| A．The Power of Intrinsic Motivation. | B．The Facts about Extrinsic Motivation. |
| C．How to Improve Motivation. | D．Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Motivation. |
A password is like a key to your home. If someone steals it, he’ll get chances to steal something else. We use passwords everywhere in our life. We are so used to passwords that we don’t pay any attention to them until we lose or forget one.
A study of 28,000 passwords recently stolen from a popular website showed that people often do the easy thing. It found that 16 percent took a first name as a password. Another 14 percent used the easiest keyboard combinations such as “12345678” or QWERTY. Five percent of the stolen passwords were names of television shows or stars popular with young people. Three percent of the passwords expressed feelings like “I don’t care,” “Whatever,” “I love you,” or their opposite, “I hate you.”
Robert Graham, who did the study, advises people to choose a password that is longer than eight characters with one capital letter(大写字母) and one symbol.
Of course, safe passwords don’t mean those hard to remember. Forgetting your password is sometimes a big headache for you. Maybe, the perfect password is easy for you and hard for others.
【小题1】The underlined word “password” in Paragraph 1 means __________.
| A．标志 | B．护照 | C．密码 | D．口诀 |
| A．busy | B．lazy | C．stupid | D．careful |
| A．ZXCVBN. | B．password56. | C．wy64#0Mv. | D．I hate you. |
when we give food to a hungry person，he is lucky. However, scientists have recently begun to study the effect(影响)of the kindness on the person giving it. What they have found is that doing good is good for the doer(行为者).Acts of kindness can improve health，help a person reach goals and even add years to a person's life.
The first study to show the connection between doing good and living a long life was a study on aging(衰老). Beginning in 1956，scientists studied a group of married mothers for 30 years. They thought the women with the most children would die first. But the number of children a woman had did not matter. Wealth did not matter. Education did not matter. What did matter was whether they volunteered. Women that volunteered had fewer diseases during their life.
Many other studies have found the same positive(积极的)effects. Helping other people improves long-term health. The gains are the same for men，women，old people and the young. Those who volunteered had fewer serious diseases than those who did not volunteer. This included diseases such as heart attack，cancer and stroke.
Scientists are studying many possible causes. One possible cause is an increase in antibodies(抗体)，which help fight against disease. One study showed the body produces more antibodies after an act of kindness.
Another one is an increase in Oxytocin(催生素)，it is a chemical that fights the effects of stress from life. Scientists have found a link between being kind to people and an increase in the chemical oxytocin.
【小题1】What does the study in Paragraph 2 show?
| A．Diseases age people fast. |
| B．Doing good is good for one's health. |
| C．Women with more kids die earlier. |
| D．A long marriage leads to a long life. |
| A．Acts of kindness can improve health. |
| B．Acts of kindness can help a person reach goals. |
| C．Acts of kindness can add years to a person's life. |
| D．Acts of kindness can increase many harmful chemicals. |
| A．More antibodies may not be good. | B．They help people reduce stress. |
| C．They increase with one's kind acts. | D．The more antibodies，the more oxytocin. |
| A．Helping others means helping yourself. | B．Happiness is connected with kindness. |
| C．Try your best to help someone in need. | D．Everyone needs to be cared for. |
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