In a new study, 186 four-year-old kids were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist. Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, D.C..

“Cool names can make for cool foods,” said the lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University. “Whether it be ‘power peas’ or ‘dinosaur broccoli trees’, giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat. And it seems to keep working — even the next day,” Wansink said.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Romantic Hawaii, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent. “Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience,” said Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.”

The study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

“I’ve been using this with my kids,” said researcher Collin Payne, “Whatever sparks(激发) their imagination seems to spark their appetite.”

Those four-year-old kids ate ________ when the carrots were renamed X-ray Vision Carrots.

A. twice more carrots                         B. nearly double carrots

     C. about 50 percent more carrots          D. as many carrots as they used to

According to the passage, _______ make(s) kids think it will be more fun to eat.

     A. power peas                                    B. dinosaur broccoli trees     

C. fun names of food                          D. cool foods 

The restaurant study didn’t show that ________.

     A. sales increased 28 percent when the name Romantic Hawaii was taken

B. taste rating increased by 12 percent after the Seafood Filet was renamed

C. same food would let people have a different experience with different names

D. the researchers got similar results when they work with children at home

The purpose of the passage is to tell us ________.

     A. people prefer food with cool names

     B. how to name the food which kids eat

     C. how to help kids eat in a healthy way

     D. kids often imagine when they eat food

In a new study, 186 four-year-old kids were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist. Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, D.C..

“Cool names can make for cool foods,” said the lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University. “Whether it be ‘power peas’ or ‘dinosaur broccoli trees’, giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat. And it seems to keep working — even the next day,” Wansink said.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Romantic Hawaii, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent. “Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience,” said Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.”

The study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

“I’ve been using this with my kids,” said researcher Collin Payne, “Whatever sparks(激发) their imagination seems to spark their appetite.”

1.Those four-year-old kids ate ________ when the carrots were renamed X-ray Vision Carrots.

A. twice more carrots               B. nearly double carrots

   C. about 50 percent more carrots        D. as many carrots as they used to

2.According to the passage, _______ make(s) kids think it will be more fun to eat.

   A. power peas                       B. dinosaur broccoli trees 

C. fun names of food                D. cool foods  

3.The restaurant study didn’t show that ________.

   A. sales increased 28 percent when the name Romantic Hawaii was taken

B. taste rating increased by 12 percent after the Seafood Filet was renamed

C. same food would let people have a different experience with different names

D. the researchers got similar results when they work with children at home

4.The purpose of the passage is to tell us ________.

   A. people prefer food with cool names

   B. how to name the food which kids eat

   C. how to help kids eat in a healthy way

   D. kids often imagine when they eat food

In a new study, 186 four-year-old kids were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist. Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, D.C..

“Cool names can make for cool foods,” said the lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University. “Whether it be ‘power peas’ or ‘dinosaur broccoli trees’, giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat. And it seems to keep working — even the next day,” Wansink said.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Romantic Hawaii, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent. “Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience,” said Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.”

The study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

“I’ve been using this with my kids,” said researcher Collin Payne, “Whatever sparks(激发) their imagination seems to spark their appetite.”

65.   Those four-year-old kids ate ________ when the carrots were renamed X-ray Vision Carrots.

A. twice more carrots                         B. nearly double carrots

     C. about 50 percent more carrots          D. as many carrots as they used to

66. According to the passage, _______ make(s) kids think it will be more fun to eat.

     A. power peas                                    B. dinosaur broccoli trees     

C. fun names of food                          D. cool foods 

67. The restaurant study didn’t show that ________.

     A. sales increased 28 percent when the name Romantic Hawaii was taken

B. taste rating increased by 12 percent after the Seafood Filet was renamed

C. same food would let people have a different experience with different names

D. the researchers got similar results when they work with children at home

68. The purpose of the passage is to tell us ________.

     A. people prefer food with cool names

     B. how to name the food which kids eat

     C. how to help kids eat in a healthy way

     D. kids often imagine when they eat food

In a new study, 186 four-year-old kids were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots．On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many．

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist．Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special．

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, D.C..

“Cool names can make for cool foods,” said the lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University．“Whether it be ‘power peas’ or ‘dinosaur broccoli trees’, giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat．And it seems to keep working — even the next day,” Wansink said．

Similar results have been found with adults．A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Romantic Hawaii, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent．“Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience,” said Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.”

The study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

“I’ve been using this with my kids,” said researcher Collin Payne, “Whatever sparks（激发） their imagination seems to spark their appetite.”

1．Those four-year-old kids ate ________ when the carrots were renamed X-ray Vision Carrots．

A．twice more carrots                              B．nearly double carrots

     C．about 50 percent more carrots              D．as many carrots as they used to

2．According to the passage, _______ make（s） kids think it will be more fun to eat．

     A．power peas                                         B．dinosaur broccoli trees

C．fun names of food                                                               D．cool foods

3．The restaurant study didn’t show that ________.

     A．sales increased 28 percent when the name Romantic Hawaii was taken

       B．taste rating increased by 12 percent after the Seafood Filet was renamed

C．same food would let people have a different experience with different names

D．the researchers got similar results when they work with children at home

4．The purpose of the passage is to tell us ________．

     A．people prefer food with cool names

     B．how to name the food which kids eat

     C．how to help kids eat in a healthy way

     D．kids often imagine when they eat food

Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found. 
With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow heavy pace, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy(忧郁的) creatures. But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size.
In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are common in a herd – the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues(小淘气) and the reliable plodders (辛勤工作的人).
Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and is almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists.
Professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family — famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009.
Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analyzed them for 26 types of behavior and found four personality features tended to emerge.
The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader. Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders.
The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this feature throughout her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age.
Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, touched and rubbed against others more than the others.
Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats. Echo and her youngest daughter Ebony seemed to be the most reliable.
Professor Lee said that elephants with these features tended to be the most socially integrated in the group while those who tended to be less reliable and pushy were more likely to split from the herd.
【小题1】From the passage we get to know that ________.

Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.

That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.

“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.

Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.

The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.

The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.

Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.

Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.

“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.

1.According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

2.Which of the following is TRUE about the study?

3.Which have an effect on the development of children’s perspective-taking skills?

4.In the last paragraph, Brad Farrant __________.

5.According to the text, we can learn __________.

Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.
That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.
【小题1】According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.
That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.
【小题1】According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.

That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.

“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.

Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.

The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.

The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.

Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.

Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.

“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.

1.According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

A．give their children more chances to express themselves

B．talk more with their children about people’s feelings

C．encourage their children to guess other people’s thoughts

D．spend more time playing with their children

2.Which of the following is TRUE about the study?

A．Over one hundred American children took part in it.

B．All the children had delayed in language acquisition.

C．The children in the study were around five years old.

D．Mothers helped their children to complete the tasks.

3.Which have an effect on the development of children’s perspective-taking skills?

A．The surrounding environments.            B．Mother’s perspectives.

C．Personal characters.                     D．Language skills.

4.In the last paragraph, Brad Farrant __________.

A．stressed the importance of perspective-taking skills

B．expressed his concern about the world’s challenges

C．showed how to take the perspective of other people

D．explained why other people’s opinions are important

5.According to the text, we can learn __________.

A．parents should talk to their children frequently no matter how old their children are

B．it was Brad Farrant who wrote the study in Child Development herself

C．the only way to improve language skill is talking to children more often

D．parents who are always thinking about others will help their children do the same way

Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found. 

With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow heavy pace, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy(忧郁的) creatures. But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size.

In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are common in a herd – the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues(小淘气) and the reliable plodders (辛勤工作的人).

Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and is almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists.

Professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family — famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009.

Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analyzed them for 26 types of behavior and found four personality features tended to emerge.

The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader. Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders.

The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this feature throughout her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age.

Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, touched and rubbed against others more than the others.

Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats. Echo and her youngest daughter Ebony seemed to be the most reliable.

Professor Lee said that elephants with these features tended to be the most socially integrated in the group while those who tended to be less reliable and pushy were more likely to split from the herd.

1.From the passage we get to know that ________.

A．the researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing the data

B．the research centered on the 26 types of behavior of the matriarch

C．the scientists conducted the research by comparing elephants with other animals

D．professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague spent nearly 38 years tracking the herd

2.According to the new findings of the scientists, ________.

A．playfulness of an elephant will always decline with age

B．those elephants which are caring and wise are most reliable

C．each elephant can be matched with only one of the four personalities

D．once becoming a member of a herd, an elephant will never split from it

3.In the EB family Echo and Eudora are ________.

A．mother and daughter                    B．two oldest females

C．the gentlest ones                       D．leader and member

Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.
That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.

1. 1.

   According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

   1. A.
      give their children more chances to express themselves
   2. B.
      talk more with their children about people’s feelings
   3. C.
      encourage their children to guess other people’s thoughts
   4. D.
      spend more time playing with their children
2. 2.

   Which of the following is TRUE about the study?

   1. A.
      Over one hundred American children took part in it.
   2. B.
      All the children had delayed in language acquisition.
   3. C.
      The children in the study were around five years old.
   4. D.
      Mothers helped their children to complete the tasks.
3. 3.

   Which have an effect on the development of children’s perspective-taking skills?

   1. A.
      The surrounding environments.
   2. B.
      Mother’s perspectives.
   3. C.
      Personal characters.
   4. D.
      Language skills.
4. 4.

   In the last paragraph, Brad Farrant __________.

   1. A.
      stressed the importance of perspective-taking skills
   2. B.
      expressed his concern about the world’s challenges
   3. C.
      showed how to take the perspective of other people
   4. D.
      explained why other people’s opinions are important
5. 5.

   According to the text, we can learn __________.

   1. A.
      parents should talk to their children frequently no matter how old their children are
   2. B.
      it was Brad Farrant who wrote the study in Child Development herself
   3. C.
      the only way to improve language skill is talking to children more often
   4. D.
      parents who are always thinking about others will help their children do the same way

Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found. 
With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow heavy pace, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy(忧郁的) creatures. But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size.
In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are common in a herd – the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues(小淘气) and the reliable plodders (辛勤工作的人).
Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and is almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists.
Professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family — famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009.
Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analyzed them for 26 types of behavior and found four personality features tended to emerge.
The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader. Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders.
The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this feature throughout her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age.
Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, touched and rubbed against others more than the others.
Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats. Echo and her youngest daughter Ebony seemed to be the most reliable.
Professor Lee said that elephants with these features tended to be the most socially integrated in the group while those who tended to be less reliable and pushy were more likely to split from the herd

1. 1.

   From the passage we get to know that ________

   1. A.
      the researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing the data
   2. B.
      the research centered on the 26 types of behavior of the matriarch
   3. C.
      the scientists conducted the research by comparing elephants with other animals
   4. D.
      professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague spent nearly 38 years tracking the herd
2. 2.

   According to the new findings of the scientists, ________

   1. A.
      playfulness of an elephant will always decline with age
   2. B.
      those elephants which are caring and wise are most reliable
   3. C.
      each elephant can be matched with only one of the four personalities
   4. D.
      once becoming a member of a herd, an elephant will never split from it
3. 3.

   In the EB family Echo and Eudora are ________

   1. A.
      mother and daughter
   2. B.
      two oldest females
   3. C.
      the gentlest ones
   4. D.
      leader and member

The Friday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It’s said that it’s the day that store ledgers(分类账)move into the black and companies become profitable. On that day, retailers slash(砍) prices to get consumers to buy.  It is also a time when many Americans start their Christmas shopping. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee tells us how the economy may affect consumers on that bargain day.
This day should be a shopper’s dream. “It’s just the deals, the sales and everything you can get for a lesser price,” said Sandy Thomas, a shopper. But it’s a nightmare for others. “I think it’s crazy. I’ve done all of my shopping throughout the week so I don’t have to go out on Friday,” she said. It’s called Black Friday, the start of the traditional Christmas shopping season in the United States. Every year it’s the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. Stores open before sunrise and there are deep discounts everywhere you look.
Last year a crowd of bargain-hunters killed a Wal-mart worker in a New York suburb. This year, many stores are increasing security while they slash prices. “This is a huge time for the retail stores,” said Fred Joutz from George Washington University. “This is when they begin making their profits for the year.”
Economics professor Fred Joutz says how Americans spend the weekend after Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future.
With the unemployment rate above 10 percent, Joutz says Americans are saving more and spending less. Some retailers are attracting consumers by opening on Thanksgiving Day, when shops are traditionally closed.  Other stores open their doors anywhere from midnight to four in the morning.
And shoppers will be lining up in front of the doors in order to be one of the first ones to walk through and get a big discount. Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually the first items to go. Sandy Thomas says it’s an annual family tradition and well worth it. “I just save maybe half of what I would have spent on a regular, you know, shopping trip,” she said.
Economists say U.S. consumers will spend money this Black Friday, but they will spend it more carefully.
【小题1】By saying “This day should be a shopper’s dream”, the writer means ________ .

Going to school means learning new skills and facts in different subjects. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested in finding ways to improve both teaching and learning processes.

   Sian Beilock and Susan Leving, two psychologists at the University of Chicago, are trying to learn about learning. In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn: If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math. “If these girls keep getting math-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,” Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow up believing that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may not do as well as they would have if they were more confident.

   Just as students find certain subjects to be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult to learn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult for everyone.

   The new study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The students took math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and the researchers compared the scores.

   The researchers also gave the students tests to tell whether the students believed a math superstar had to be a boy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teachers were anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. A teacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example, was probably anxious about math.

   Boys, on average, were unaffected by a teacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower on the end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on the test showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls had been taught by female teachers with math anxiety.

   According to surveys done before this one, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have the highest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementary teachers are women, Levine said.

1.Sian Beilock and Susan Levine carried out the new research in order to ___________.

 A. know the effects of teaching on learning       B. study students’ ways of learning math

C. prove women teachers are unfit to teach math   D. find better teaching methods for teachers

2.The underlined part in paragraph 2 most probably means that girls may ___________.

A. end up learning math anxiety from their teachers     B. study the ways their female teachers behave

C. have an influence on their math-anxious female teachers

 D. gain unexpected achievement in such subjects as math

3. In the study, what were the teachers required to do?

 A. Prepare two math achievement tests for the students    B. Tell their feelings about math problems

C. Answer whether a math superstar had to be a boy       D. Compare the students’ scores after the math tests

4.What is the finding of the new study?

A. No male students were affected by their teachers’ anxiety

B. Almost all the girls got lower scores in the tests than the boys

C. About 30% of the girls thought boys are better at math than girls

D. Girls with math-anxious teachers all failed in the math tests

5.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

 A. 117 students and teachers took part in the new study

 B. The researchers felt surprised at the findings of their study

 C. Beilock and Levine are interested in teaching math

 D. Men teachers are better at teaching math than women teachers

A migraine（偏头痛）can cause disabling pain. People may not feel back to normal for hours or even days. Migraines are most common among young adults and middle-aged people. In the United States, about eighteen percent of women and six percent of men report having migraines.

People who suffer from migraines can find that different “triggers（诱因）”in different people may get a headache started. Stress can act as a trigger. So can chocolate in some people. Many migraine sufferers say hot weather and low barometric pressure（大气压）can act as triggers. But researchers say they do not have much scientific evidence of that — until now.

 In a new study, a team examined the medical records of seven thousand hospital patients. The patients had visited the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, because of a headache. More than two thousand of them had been found to have a migraine.

 The team then compared those records to weather conditions in the twenty-four hours before the hospital visits. For every increase of five degrees centigrade in air temperature, the patients had a seven and one-half percent higher risk of migraine. Decreases in barometric pressure two to three days before the visit also appeared to trigger headaches.

 The researchers found no evidence that air pollution influenced headaches. But they could not rule out the possibility of a smaller effect.

 A separate study has found that age, gender and where a person has extra body fat may affect the risk of migraine. It found that overweight people between the ages of twenty and fifty-five may have a higher risk. On average, those who were larger around the middle were more likely to have migraines than those of the same age with smaller waistlines.

 The study involved twenty-two thousand people. It was led by Lee Peterlin. She says early results suggest that losing weight in the stomach area may help younger people who experience migraines, especially women.

41. From the first paragraph, we can infer a migraine can ________.

A. make people unable to walk

B. prevent people acting normally

C. cause people to leave home for days

D. get people to suffer from mental disorder

42. The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

A. chocolate acting as a trigger

B. stress acting as a trigger

C. hot weather and low barometric pressure acting as triggers

D. high air pressure acting as a trigger

43. According to the passage, headaches are influenced least by ________.

A. body weight                  B. barometric pressure

C. air temperature                  D. air pollution

44. In the opinion of Lee Peterlin, a person who has a migraine should ________.

A. avoid gathering fat in the stomach area

B. eat more sweet food every day

C. stay warm in good weather

D. keep away from noisy places

45. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Overweight people may have a lower risk of migraines.

B. Weather is linked to migraines.

C. Migraines are a headache for many people.

D. Women suffer more migraines than men do.

Going to school means learning new skills and facts in different subjects. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested in finding ways to improve both teaching and learning processes.
Sian Beilock and Susan Leving, two psychologists at the University of Chicago, are trying to learn about learning. In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn: If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math. “If these girls keep getting math-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,” Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow up believing that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may not do as well as they would have if they were more confident.
Just as students find certain subjects to be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult to learn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult for everyone.
The new study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The students took math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and the researchers compared the scores.
The researchers also gave the students tests to tell whether the students believed a math superstar had to be a boy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teachers were anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. A teacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example, was probably anxious about math.
Boys, on average, were unaffected by a teacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower on the end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on the test showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls had been taught by female teachers with math anxiety.
According to surveys done before this one, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have the highest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementary teachers are women, Levine said.
【小题1】Sian Beilock and Susan Levine carried out the new research in order to ___________.

Directions: Read the following passage．Complete the diagram by using the information from the passage．Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer．

       A migraine headache（偏头疼） can cause disabling pain．People may not feel back to normal for hours or even for days．

       Migraine headaches are most common among young adults and middle-aged people．In the United States, about eighteen percent of women and six percent of men report having migraines．

       People who suffer from migraines can find that different "triggers" in different people may get a headache started．Stress can act as a trigger．

       Many migraine sufferers say hot weather and low barometric pressure（气压） can act as triggers, but researchers say they did not have much scientific evidence of that-until now．

       In a new study, a team examined the medical records of seven thousand hospital patients．The patients had visited the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, because of a headache．More than two thousand of them had been found to have a migraine．

       The team then compared those records to weather conditions in the twenty-four hours before the hospital visits．For every increase of five degrees Celsius in air temperature, the patients had a seven and one-half percent higher risk of migraine．Decreases in barometric pressure two to three days before the visit also appeared to cause headaches．

       A separate study has found that age, gender and where a person has extra body fat may affect the risk of migraine．It found that overweight people between the ages of twenty and fifty-five may have a higher risk．On average, those who were larger around the middle were more likely to have migraines than those of the same age with smaller waistlines（腰围）．

       Experts suggest that losing weight in the stomach area may help younger people who experience migraines, especially women．Doing exercises regularly is also helpful to reducing migraine headaches．

Title:

●        ．

● Not feel back to normal for hours or even days．

People suffering from it Young adults and

_______    Hot weather→ every increase of five degrees Celsius: seven and one-half percent higher risk of migraine

                         → decreases two to three days before the visit appeared to cause headaches

       A separate study              and where a person has extra body fat→ overweight people between twenty and fifty-five have a higher risk

     ● Lose weight in the stomach area．

●        ．

The Friday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It’s said that it’s the day that store ledgers(分类账)move into the black and companies become profitable. On that day, retailers slash(砍) prices to get consumers to buy.  It is also a time when many Americans start their Christmas shopping. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee tells us how the economy may affect consumers on that bargain day.

This day should be a shopper’s dream. “It’s just the deals, the sales and everything you can get for a lesser price,” said Sandy Thomas, a shopper. But it’s a nightmare for others. “I think it’s crazy. I’ve done all of my shopping throughout the week so I don’t have to go out on Friday,” she said. It’s called Black Friday, the start of the traditional Christmas shopping season in the United States. Every year it’s the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. Stores open before sunrise and there are deep discounts everywhere you look.

Last year a crowd of bargain-hunters killed a Wal-mart worker in a New York suburb. This year, many stores are increasing security while they slash prices. “This is a huge time for the retail stores,” said Fred Joutz from George Washington University. “This is when they begin making their profits for the year.”

Economics professor Fred Joutz says how Americans spend the weekend after Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future.

With the unemployment rate above 10 percent, Joutz says Americans are saving more and spending less. Some retailers are attracting consumers by opening on Thanksgiving Day, when shops are traditionally closed.  Other stores open their doors anywhere from midnight to four in the morning.

And shoppers will be lining up in front of the doors in order to be one of the first ones to walk through and get a big discount. Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually the first items to go. Sandy Thomas says it’s an annual family tradition and well worth it. “I just save maybe half of what I would have spent on a regular, you know, shopping trip,” she said.

Economists say U.S. consumers will spend money this Black Friday, but they will spend it more carefully.

1.By saying “This day should be a shopper’s dream”, the writer means ________ .

2.Why are many stores increasing security according to the passage?

3.From the passage we know that_________.

4.We can find this passage in_________.

5.Why American people call it a black day?

In a new study of African elephants，researchers have    four distinct characters that are among a group.

A．convinced         B．identified          C．differed           D．existed