How We Form First Impression

1　We all have first impression of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form an opinion about someone without really knowing anything about him or her — aside perhaps from a few remarks or readily observable traits.

2　The answer is related to how your brain, allows you to be aware of the world. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how a person’s eyes, ears, nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other makes you see him or her as different¹. In fact, your brain continuously processes incoming sensory information — the sights and sounds of your world. These incoming “signals” are compared against² a host of “memories” stored in the brain areas called the cortex system to determine what these new signals “mean.”

3　If you see someone you know and like at school³, your brain says “familiar and safe. ‘‘If you see someone new, it says, “new — potentially threatening.” Then your brain starts to match features of this stranger with other “known” memories；The height, weight, dress, ethnicity, gestures, and tone of voice are all matched up. The more unfamiliar the characteristics, the more your brain may say, “This is new. I don’t like this person.” Or else, “I’m intrigued. “Or your brain may perceive a new face but familiar clothes, ethnicity, gestures — like your other friends；so your brain says: “I like this person.” But these preliminary “impressions” can be dead wrong⁴.

4　When we stereotype people, we use a less mature form of thinking（not unlike the immature thinking of a very young child）that makes simplistic and categorical impressions of others. Rather than leam about the depth and breadth of people — their history, interest, values, strengths, and true character — we categorize them as jocks, geeks, or freaks.

5　However, if we resist initial stereotypical impressions, we have a chance to be aware of what a person is truly like. If we spend time with a person, hear about his or her life, hopes, dreams, and become aware of the person’s character, we use a different, more mature style of thinking — and the most complex areas of our cortex, which allow us to be humane.

 

词汇： 

trait / treɪ, treɪt/ n．特点，特征，特性

host / həʊst/ n．一大群，许多

simplistic / sɪm’plɪstɪk / adj．过分单纯化的

categorical / ,kætɪ’gɒrɪkl/ adj．绝对的

jock /dʒɒk / n．骗子

geek / gi:k / n．反常的人

stereotype / ’sterɪətaɪp/ v．对……产生成见

humane / hju:’meɪn, hjʊ- / adj．有人情味的，人文的

sensory / ’sensərɪ / adj．感官的，感觉的

cortex / ’kɔ:teks /n．脑皮层

ethnicity n．种族特点

intrigue / ɪn’tri:g / v．激起兴趣

freak / fri:k / n．怪人

 

注释：

1．Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how a person’s eyes, ears, nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other makes you see him or her as different：从even开始到as different是个结果状语从句，相当于that even very minor ... .，而that是与主句中的so呼应的。

2．against：和……对比

3．If you see someone you know and like at school ...：如果你在学校里看见某个你认识而且喜欢的人…… like在这里是动词。

4．dead wrong：相当于completely wrong。dead wrong是口语表达用语。

A　a stranger’s less mature type of thinking

B　the most complex areas of our cortex

C　the immature form of thinking of a very young child

D　the meaning of incoming sensory information

E　the sights and sounds of the world

F　an opportunity to analyze different forms of thinking

You interpret by comparing it against the memories already stored in your brain ________.

A:a stranger's less mature type of thinking B:the most complex areas of our cortex C:the immature form of thinking of a very young child D:the meaning of incoming sensory information E:the sights and sounds of the world F:an opportunity to analyze different forms of thinking

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that, on average, each person in the United States throws out about 328 pounds of edible food each year. Food bought with the best (1) sits for weeks on end as busy consumers (2) it in the refrigerator and forget about it. And when it seems time to either eat it or (3) it, most people (4) the freshness dates (a.k.a. ’use by’, ’sell by’, and ’best if used by’) printed on the packages.
But, these dates don’t really (5) food safety, nor do they mean (6) food is always bad. Poultry, seafood, and ground meats such as hamburger, have the shortest (7) lives. They should be (8) within two days of (9) if stored in the refrigerator. They last (10) six months in the freezer. Steak, beef, (11) , and other fresh-cut meats last a little longer—three to five days in the refrigerator and six months in the freezer.
The date (12) on milk products is set by the dairy. Most of the dates on dairy products are totally driven by (13) —not necessarily spoilage. In general, milk lasts five to seven days after the (14) date. Eggs generally have long shelf lives—three to five weeks from the time you take them home. Don’t (15) your eggs just because they’re past the expiration date; (16) one open first. If it still smells and looks good, (17) .
When you cook them, make sure you do so thoroughly. About (18) every 10, 000 eggs contains salmonella bacteria. Thorough cooking (19) salmonella. Once cooked, a boiled, (20) egg will last a week.

（7）（）

A:fresh B:expected C:stored D:shelf

It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the bases (1) the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be (2) in our past experiences, which are brought into the present (3) memory.
Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep (4) available for later use. It includes not only " (5) " things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also any (6) in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is (7) when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed something (8) in the grain pile. Memory is also involved when a six-year-old child (9) to swing a baseball bat.
Memory (10) not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain (11) for storing data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory-storage (12) of a computer (13) that of a human being. The instant-access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100, 000 "words"—ready for (14) use. An average American teenager probably (15) the meanings of about 100, 000 words of English. (16) , this is but a fraction of the total (17) of information which the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the (18) of facts and places that the teenager can recognize on sight. The use of (19) is the basis of the advanced problem-solving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person’s memory is in terms of words and (20) of words.

（2）（）

A:kept B:found C:sought D:stored

All the useful energy at the surface of the earth comes from the activity of the sun. The sun heats and feeds creatures and mankind. Each year it provides men with two hundred million tons of grain and nearly ten million tons of wood, coal, oil, natural gas, and all other fuels are stored energy from the sun. (80) Some was collected by this season’ s plants as carbon compounds. Some was stored by plants and trees ages ago. Even waterpower derives from the sun. Water turned into vapor by the sun fails as rain. It courses down the mountains and is converted to electric power. Light transmits only the energy that comes from the sun’ s outer layer, and much of this energy that is directed towards the earth never arrives. About nine tenths of it is absorbed by the atmosphere of the earth. In fact, the earth itself gets only one half millionth of the sun’s entire output of radiant energy.
The largest part of the light energy directed towards the earth is ______.

A:stored up by the plants B:absorbed by the earth’ s atmosphere C:stored up by the animals in the form of body fat D:used for electric power

She has stored ______ books as Ⅰ.

A:three times as many B:three times as much C:four time as many D:three time as much

Passage Three
All the useful energy at the surface of the earth comes from the activity of the sun. The sun heats and feeds mankind. Each year it provides men with two hundred million tons of grain and nearly ten million tons of wood.
Coal, oil, natural gas, and all other fuels are stored-up energy from the sun. Some was collect ed by this season’s plants as carbon compounds. Some was stored by plants and trees ages ago.
Even waterpower derives from the sun. Water turned into vapor by the sun falls as rain. It courses down the mountains and is converted to electric power.
Light transmits only the energy that comes from the sun’ s outer layers, and much of this energy that is directed toward the earth never arrives. About nine-tenths of it is absorbed by the atmosphere of the earth. In fact; the earth itself gets only one half-billionth of the sun’ s entire output of radiant energy.

All the useful energy at the surface of the earth comes （）

A:directly from the sun B:from the sun' s activity C:from energy stored by the sun D:from radiation of the sun

All the useful energy at the surface of the earth comes from the activity of the sun. The sun heats and feeds creatures and mankind. Each year it provides men with two hundred million tons of grain and nearly ten million tons of wood, coal, oil, natural gas, and all other fuels are stored energy from the sun. (80) Some was collected by this season’ s plants as carbon compounds. Some was stored by plants and trees ages ago. Even waterpower derives from the sun. Water turned into vapor by the sun fails as rain. It courses down the mountains and is converted to electric power. Light transmits only the energy that comes from the sun’ s outer layer, and much of this energy that is directed towards the earth never arrives. About nine tenths of it is absorbed by the atmosphere of the earth. In fact, the earth itself gets only one half millionth of the sun’s entire output of radiant energy.

The largest part of the light energy directed towards the earth is （）

A:stored up by the plants B:absorbed by the earth’ s atmosphere C:stored up by the animals in the form of body fat D:used for electric power

Passage 3

The largest part of the light energy directed towards the earth is ______.

A:stored up by the plants B:absorbed by the earth’ s atmosphere C:stored up by the animals in the form of body fat D:used for electric power

Passage Three All the useful energy at the surface of the earth comes from the activity of the sun. The sun heats and feeds mankind. Each year it provides men with two hundred million tons of grain and nearly ten million tons of wood. Coal, oil, natural gas, and all other fuels are stored-up energy from the sun. Some was collect ed by this season’s plants as carbon compounds. Some was stored by plants and trees ages ago. Even waterpower derives from the sun. Water turned into vapor by the sun falls as rain. It courses down the mountains and is converted to electric power. Light transmits only the energy that comes from the sun’ s outer layers, and much of this energy that is directed toward the earth never arrives. About nine-tenths of it is absorbed by the atmosphere of the earth. In fact; the earth itself gets only one half-billionth of the sun’ s entire output of radiant energy.

The largest part of the radiant energy directed toward the earth is（）

A:stored by plants B:turned into fuel C:absorbed by the earth' s atmosphere D:used for electric power

The program memory serves basically as a place (1) instructions, the coded pieces of data (2) direct the activities of the control processing unit (CPU). A group of (3) related in- structions stored in memory is referred to as a program. The CPU "read" each instruction from memory a logically (4) sequence and "use" it to initiate program action. If the program structure is coherent and (5) , processing procedures produce intelligible and useful results.

1（）

A:stored B:to store C:to be stored D:storing