A
(2017·北京模拟) 体裁 说明文 题材 消息的传播 词数 387
Bad news travels fast—when you watch the evening news or read the morning papers, it seems that things that get the most coverage are all tragedies like wars, earthquakes, floods, fires and murders.
This is the classic rule for mass media. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling, ”Jonah Berger, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, the US, told The New York Times.
But with social media getting increasingly popular, information is now being spread in different ways, and researchers are discovering new rules - good news can actually spread faster and farther than disasters and other sad stories.
Berger and his colleague Katherine Milkman looked at thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website and analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months.
One of his findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list. Those stories aroused feelings of awe and made the readers want to share this positive emotion with others.
Besides science stories, readers were also found to be likely to share articles that were exciting or funny. “The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, ”Berger wrote in his new book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On. For example, “stories about newcomers falling in love with New York City”, he writes, tend to be shared more than “the death of a popular zookeeper”.
The difference between the two is due to the fact that the mass media prefers news that gets attention, while when you share a story with your friends “you care a lot more about how they react”, Berger explained.
But does all this good news actually make the audience feel better? Not necessarily.
According to a study by researchers at Harvard University, people tend to say more positive things about themselves when they’re talking to a bigger audience, rather than just one person, which helps explain all the perfect vacations that keep showing up on micro blogs. This, researchers found, makes people think that life is unfair and that they’re less happy than their “friends”.
But no worries. There’s a quick and easy way to relieve the depression you get from viewing other people’s seemingly perfect lives - turn on the television and watch the news. There is always someone doing worse than you are.
1. Why do mass media like to report bad news according to the article?
A. They want to attract the attention of readers.
B. They care a lot about how readers react.
C. They think bad news spreads faster than good news.
D. They want to show concern for people in disaster-hit areas.
2. Which of the following is TRUE about Berger’s and his colleague’s study?
A. They found that articles on science are more likely to be shared.
B. Sad news tended to arouse the audience’s feelings of awe and sympathy.
C. It was aimed at finding out whether mass media should cover more tragedies.
D. Good news usually helps the audience relieve their negative emotions.
3. We can conclude from the last three paragraphs that .
A. watching news is good for people’s health
B. people shouldn’t be jealous of their friends
C. sharing good news with friends will double your happiness
D. people might not be as happy as they suggest on their micro blogs
4. What’s the article mainly about?
A. Why bad news is covered most often.
B. Why good news spreads faster than bad news.
C. How people react differently to bad and good news.
D. Which kind of news makes the audience feel better.
B
(2017·安徽高考压轴卷)
体裁 广告 题材 介绍图书 词数 443
New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Price: ￡28. 00
Publication Date: 30/11/2010
Publisher’s Description:
Collect Doyle’s fifty-six classic short stories, arranged in the order in which they appeared in late-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-century book editions, in a set complemented by four novels, editor biographies of Doyle, Holmes, and Watson as well as literary and cultural details about Victorian society.
Breaking Ground by Daniel Libeskind
Price: ￡16. 00
Publication Date: 11/10/2010
Brief Description:
This is a book about the adventure life that can offer each of us if we seize it, and about the powerful forces of tragedy, memory and hope. For Daniel Libeskind, life’s adventure has been through architecture, which he has found has the power to reshape human experience. Although often relating to the past, his buildings are about the future. This biology of one man’s journey brings together history, personal experience, our physical environment and a fresh international vision.
In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman
Price: ￡16. 00
Publication Date: 02/09/2010
Brief Description:
On 11th September 2001, Art Spiegelman raced to the World Trade Center, not knowing if his daughter Nadja was alive or dead. Once she was found safe—in her school at the foot of the burning towers—he returned home, to mediate (反省) on the trauma (创伤) , and to work on a comic strip (连环漫画) . In the Shadow of No Towers is New Yorker Art Spiegelman’s extraordinary account of “the hijacking (劫机) on 9. 11 and the following hijacking of those events” by America.
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Price: ￡14. 00
Publication Date: 07/10/2006
Publisher’s Description:
This is the 11th novel by Anita Shreve, the critically accepted bestseller. A moving story of love and courage and tragedy and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself.
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Price: ￡20. 99
Publication Date: 11/08/2010
Brief Description:
Camping in the garden, riding bikes through the woods, climbing trees, picking wildflowers, running through piles of autumn leaves. . . these are the things childhood memories are made of. But for a whole generation of today’s children the pleasures of a free-range childhood are missing, and their indoor habits contribute to obesity, attention disorder and childhood depression. This book shows how our children have become increasingly distanced from nature, why this matters and how we can make a difference. Richard Louv is chairman of the Children and Nature Network and co-chair of the National Forum on Children and Nature. He is the author of seven other books and has written for newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Washington Post.
5. If one wants to know something about Victorian society, he or she may read .
A. Light on Snow
B. In the Shadow of No Towers
C. Breaking Ground
D. New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
6. Which of the following refers to tragedies?
A. Light on Snow & Breaking Ground
B. Light on Snow & In the Shadow of No Towers
C. In the Shadow of No Towers & Breaking Ground
D. New Annotated Sherlock Holmes & In the Shadow of No Towers
7. Which book is based on a real big event?
A. Breaking Ground
B. In the Shadow of No Towers
C. Light on Snow
D. Last Child in The Woods
8. Who has also written for newspapers and magazines according to the text?
A. Arthur Conan Doyle
B. Daniel Libeskind
C. Art Spiegelman
D. Richard Louv
C
体裁 记叙文 题材 面对死亡 词数 415
I looked at the fresh-faced (朝气蓬勃的) boy and back at the cat he had probably had all his life. I was going to have to tell him that his cat had a tumor (肿瘤) . Even if it were surgically removed, she probably would survive less than a year. And there the boy was, all alone. Death is something we push to the background and ignore as long as possible, but in reality every living thing we love will die. How death is first experienced can be life-forming. It can be a thing of horror and suffering or a peaceful release.
So I would have to guide the boy through this myself. I did not want the burden. It had to be done perfectly, or he might end up emotionally scarred. It would have been easy to run from this task and leave it to a parent. But when I looked at the boy’s face, I knew I couldn’t do that. So I told him as gently as I could what I had found, and what it meant.
As I spoke, the boy moved quickly away from me, probably so I could not see his face. I discussed the alternatives with him. I could let her fade away at home, or give her an injection and put her to sleep. He listened carefully and nodded gravely. He said he didn’t want her to suffer. He reluctantly told me to put the cat to sleep. In my professional opinion, too, this was the least bad option.
I could see, though, how much it was costing him. I could not control the tears streaming down my face, or the grief (悲伤) I felt welling inside for this boy who had had to become a man so quickly, all alone.
He held his cat’s head and reassured her while I administered (执行) the injection. She drifted off to sleep, her head cradled (轻轻抱着) in his hand. The animal looked quiet and at rest. The owner now bore all the suffering.
Something was missing, though. I did not feel as though I had completed my task. It came to me suddenly that though I had asked him to become a man instantly, and he had done so with grace and strength, he was still a child. I held out my arms and asked him if he needed a hug. He did, and in truth, so did I.
9. When the author was about to tell the boy what was wrong with the cat, he or she .
A. was full of sympathy for the cat
B. had already informed his parents of what happened
C. decided to help him face death without hesitation
D. was afraid that this experience might have a deep effect on him emotionally
10. What was the boy’s first reaction upon hearing the bad news about his cat?
A. He was sad and angry.
B. He tried to hide his feelings.
C. He refused to accept the cruel truth.
D. He turned to the author for comfort.
11. What was the best way to deal with the cat, in the opinion of the author?
A. Letting her fade away at home.
B. Giving her drugs to ease her pain.
C. Having her tumor surgically removed.
D. Putting an end to her life without pain.
12. What is the author’s attitude toward the boy?
A. Proud but puzzled.
B. Worried but objective.
C. Doubtful and disappointed.
D. Sympathetic and supportive.
答案解析
【文章大意】介绍新的研究发现人们乐于传播好的正面的消息, 并分析了其中的原因。
1. 【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段的“They want your eyeballs”和第七段的“the mass media prefers news that gets attention”可以得知答案。
2. 【解析】选A。细节理解题。由第五段可以得此答案。B、C、D文中都没有提到。
3. 【解析】选D。推理判断题。最后三段的大意是: 面对更多人的时候, 人们倾向于分享自己更积极正面的东西, 所以在微博上展现的一般都是假期过得多么完美等, 但是分享这种快乐可能会让他们的朋友们觉得生活不公平或者感觉自己不快乐。
4. 【解析】选B。主旨大意题。这篇文章的中心内容是介绍新的研究发现人们乐于传播好的正面的消息, 并分析了其中的原因, 故选B。
【文章大意】本文是几本书的广告, 介绍了作者, 出版日期, 价格方面的信息和书的梗概。
5. 【解析】选D。细节理解题。从第一则广告的句子: Watson as well as literary and cultural details about Victorian society可知想知道维多利亚社会的人应该读New Annotated Sherlock Holmes。
6. 【解析】选A。细节理解题。从第二则广告的句子: about the powerful forces of tragedy和第四则广告的句子: A moving story of love and courage and tragedy可知选A。
7.【解析】选B。细节理解题。从第三则广告的句子: In the Shadow of No Towers is New Yorker Art Spiegelman’s extraordinary account of
“the hijacking on 9. 11 and the following hijacking of those events” by America. 可知这本书是以真实的大事件为基础的。
8. 【解析】选D。细节理解题。从最后一则广告的句子: He is the author of seven other books and has written for newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Washington Post. 可知Richard Louv也为报纸和杂志写文章。
【文章大意】男孩的猫得了肿瘤, 最多可活不到一年。在医生的建议下男孩为猫选择了安乐死, 作者帮助男孩勇敢地面对猫的死亡。
9. 【解析】选D。细节理解题。根据第二段的“It had to be done perfectly, or he might end up emotionally scarred”可以得此答案。A、B文中没有提到。由第二段的“I did not want the burden”和“It would have been easy to run from this task and leave it to a parent”可知, 作者心里对于是否去帮助男孩面对死亡, 还是有些犹豫的, 所以C有误。
10. 【解析】选B。细节理解题。根据第三段的“As I spoke, the boy moved quickly away from me, probably so I could not see his face. ”可以得出答案。
11. 【解析】选D。推理判断题。根据第三段的最后两句话, 男孩同意让他的猫安乐死, 作者也认为那是最好的选择。
12. 【解析】选D。推理判断题。从作者温柔地跟男孩解释猫的病情, 到作者自己泪流满面, 再到最后给男孩拥抱, 我们不难看出作者对男孩是同情、支持的态度。