浙江省2022年英语期中备考（九下）：阅读理解 3

    Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turn around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!

    Parapsychologists(灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a "six sense" really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist（心理学家） at the University of Kentucky, did two experiments.

    In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects (受试者) were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.

    For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they being stared at and when they weren't. Baker found the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren't.

    Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they are being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, "I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves."

Imagine someone offers you two plates. One plate holds a single cookie while the other holds three cookies. Which one would you choose? Unless you don't like cookies, you'll pick the plate with three.

Being able to tell more from less is one of the most basic math talents. And it's one that a surprising number of animals have. A robin will pick the piece of wood with more mealworms. A salamander will pick the container with more fruit flies.

Animals will even pick more of something when it means they get less overall. Horses, for example, will go for three tiny apples over two much larger ones.

But animals do not have math class—why would they need to count?

Being able to spot the larger of two groups is useful to animals in lots of ways. It helps them pick the bush with more berries, or run to the larger group of friends. Many fish, for example, join groups for protection. If a predator comes, a fish in a group of 40 is less likely to become lunch than a fish in a group of 10. So if a fish has a choice between two groups, it's better to join the larger one.

Many animals can also do a simple form of counting. keeping track of how many of something there is.

Even animals we don't usually think of as smart can tell the difference between one, two, and three. Fish and honeybees can be trained to get through a maze by choosing turns marked by a certain number of dots—to find the way out, they have to count.

Some animals, such as pigeons, parrots, crows, and rats, can count much higher than three. A pigeon can learn to peck a button exactly 24 times—no more, no less—to get a treat. It can even remember its place and continue counting if interrupted.

Top student Lin Yijian had a problem recently. The 14-ycar-old from Xiamen used to get marks of over 110 points (out of 120 possible points) on his math tests. But during last semester's final exams, his math score was only 90 points.

It was a shock. "I didn't know what happened," said Lin, who kept feeling nervous and disappointed about math during the following month.

Like Lin, many of us have difficulties in life. What would you do to deal with them? Would you just let them be and give up? Lin chose to face his problem. His parents and teacher also gave him help. After some hard work he now gets marks between 100 and 110 points on his math tests. Although it still isn't his best level，Lin doesn't panic (恐慌) any more. "Don't be afraid of setbacks," he said. "You will beat it."

Chen Xingzhu in Shenzhen also has a story to tell. The 15-year-old girl is not good at doing sit-ups，which is necessary for the high school PE entrance exam. One has to do at least 35 sit-ups in a minute to pass the test. Most of Chen's classmates can do 40. However, Chen could only do 20.

Feeling worried, Chen decided to do something. She did sit-ups for half an hour every day after school. Now, after a month, she can do 30 sit-ups a minute.

"I finally found what made me slow through continuous practice and then improved little by little," said Chen. "I believe next month I will be able to do 40!"

It's too easy to find ourselves in a mess if we surround(围绕) ourselves with too many things. For our family, with children who have December and January birthdays, the Christmas season can become overwhelming(无法抗拒的) and finally lose meaning and fun. Believe it or not, it's not fun to be surrounded by piles and piles of things. But I love to give gifts. I love to surprise my children and make them happy. I can't help it.

Still, while I'm not above buying one or two very special toys for them, I remain to keep Christmas free. I do this through three types of gifts: consumable(消费型的), charitable(慈善型的), and experience(体验型的). Today, I'd like to share some fun "experience gift" ideas:

Travel

This could be as big as those exciting "We're going to Disneyland! "ads or as small as" We're going to check out a museum in a neighboring town! ". It's fun to go to new places-near or far.

The arts

Give gift of creating or discovering. Whether it is painting a plate, taking a music class or seeing a dance, exploring the arts and creativity can be a wonderful experience to treasure and reflect on throughout the year.

Get moving

Last year, my son received karate lessons as a gift. It has been fantastic! Classes are great. So are trips to an indoor gym or a discovery center. Going on a family hike, a boat ride or a fishing trip is another wonderful way to get active together and make it something special!

Fun with friends

Give your husband tickets to a ball game.    ▲    ,one ticket for him and one for a friend. The choice is limitless. Spending fun time with people whose company we really enjoy is a beautiful gift to give or receive.

How do you like to keep Christmas special and clutter-free?

A new coffee culture is forming in and around San Francisco, California. A growing number of coffeehouses there are stopping using paper cups. Instead, they are using glass cups or creating "bring your own" cup rules. The movement started among neighborhood cafes in an effort to cut down waste. Now it is receiving support from large businesses in the city—and around the country.

The Blue Bottle coffeehouse company, which uses about 15,000 to-go cups each month at its 70 shops across the U.S., is starting small with plans to stop using paper cups at two of its stores in 2020. The move is part of a promise to produce "zero waste" by the end of next year. Customers will have to bring their own cups or pay $3 to $5 for a reusable cup. They can keep the cup or return it to get their money back. The company's manager Bryan Meehan said, "We expect to lose some business. We know some of our guests won't like it—and we're prepared for that."

Kedar Korde, a small cafe owner, has stopped using paper and plastic cups since September. He decided to make the change after his 9-year-old daughter's school cleaned up waste at Lake Merritt, near his cafe. The students found his cafe's throwaway cups in the water. "We're a small coffee shop. We're not going to save the world," Korde said, but, he added, "I don't want to see our cups in the lake any more."

Today's to-go cups for hot drinks are not only made from paper. They also have plastic (塑料) to prevent leaking. This makes them hard to recycle (回收利用) . However, it is not possible that large national food and drink companies will stop using throwaway cups completely or ask all customers to bring their own. So people are looking for other solutions. Starbucks and McDonald's paid $10 million to develop the "single-use cup of the future." The result is expected to be recyclable and to break down (分解) naturally.

Dear Daughter,

Congratulations! As we left Columbia University, I wanted to email a letter to tell you all that is on my mind.

First, you can't imagine how proud we are. You are going to get into Columbia University, which shows what an excellent student you are. Whether it is getting the highest grade in math, successfully selling your painted running shoes, or becoming one of the top speakers in Model UN, you have become a talented young woman. You should be as proud of yourself as we are.

I will not forget the first moment I held you in my arms. The exciting feeling touched my heart directly. It must be that "father-daughter connection" which will connect us for life. When I put you down, it was always with both relief (she finally fell asleep!) and regret (wishing I could hold you longer). And I will always remember taking you to the playground, and watching you having so much fun.

College will be the most important four years in your life. It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about. You must become an independent learner and gain the ability to learn a new subject. So do take each subject seriously. The learning skills will be something you value forever.

Besides, College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are close to them physically than to your family.

I told your mom about this email, and asked what she wanted me to say. She thought and said, "Just ask her to take care of herself." Simple but deep caring — that is how your mother is, and that is why you love her so much. Hope Columbia will become the happiest four years in your life, and we'll always be by your side as long as you need us.

Love,

Dad & Mom

More Chinese universities are opening their libraries to the public, allowing people to enjoy reading during normal time and the vacations.

But for some students, including Wang Ling, 21, in Sun Yat-sen University, this practice has caused headaches. "Members of the public come to our libraries more for sightseeing than reading," said Wang.

"They sometimes even bring their kids along, and take photos as if it was a place of interest."

Wang has found it hard to get a seat during busy times. Being short of space is a common problem for university libraries in China.

However, this is not the only reason why students dislike their libraries being open to members of the public. They fear that the quietness of the libraries will be influenced because of visitors' rude behavior.

Chen Jie, 18, a student in Tongji University, is one who would be against opening to the public. "I have been to a public library before. People were chatting loudly or speaking on cell phone so you can hardly read," Chen said. She notices teachers doing serious reading and feels their concentration (专注) has influenced her. "If too many strangers stay here, the whole library will be a noisy place and it's difficult for us to study quietly," she said.

Will there be alternative (可替代的) ways to share those libraries? Some experts consider that university libraries can prevent the public from entering certain areas. "We might keep magazines for academic research only for teachers and students," said Zhu Lina, library director in Jinan University.

Working together with the community library is another solution. "It's possible that a member of the public can order a book in our library over the Internet," Ge Jianxiong, the library director in Fudan University said. "We'll send it to a public libraries close to their home."

    Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they don't all have the same coffee culture. In Europe for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk while they drink coffee. On the other hand, places like this were not as common in North America in the past. Instead, people in North America liked to drink coffee in their homes with friends. The coffee culture in the USA changed when Starbucks coffee shops spread across the country.

    The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981there were three Starbucks stores in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who  ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, which caused his great interest. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company's head of marketing.

    In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The special environment of the espresso bars there caught his eyes. Back in the USA, Schultz created an environment for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Starbucks began opening more stores across the USA. Then the company opened coffee shops in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 16,000 Starbucks coffee shops all over the world.

    However, that does not mean Starbucks has not had problems. In fact, many Starbucks stores have closed over the past few years. On the one hand, this is because there were too many coffee shops competing for business in one small area. On the other hand, stores in some countries closed because the coffee culture there did not match with the" feel the same everywhere" environment offered by Starbucks.

    In many British schools, the pupils usually wear their school uniforms to school on weekdays. However, recently the students at LVS Ascot Junior School in England wore something quite different. What they wore was what people wear when they go to bed­pyjamas(睡衣). They did this not only for fun, but for a local charity called Christopher's Smile.

    Christopher's Smile was set up in 2008 by Karen & Kevin Capel whose only son Christopher died of cancer at a young age. They hope their charity will help pay for more research into children's cancers. Since then, the charity has raised a lot of money and gotten more and more volunteers. Every year, thousands of people take part in different activities such as charity walk or run to show their support for Christopher's Smile.

    The students of Grade 6 at LVS Ascot Junior School also wanted to do something for the sick children. They organized the event "Pyjama Day" to support Christopher's Smile. "We wanted to raise money for our charity in a way that the whole school could join in it, so each pupil paid £1 to wear his or her pyjamas to school on Pyjama Day," said the young organizers. Both the students and their teachers took part in the event with great interest. Together they not only raised some money, but also had a good time.

    With more than 90 million vlogs available online, and 2,000 posted every hour on the YouTube video-sharing site, CBS News says they are popular with people born after 1995. Vlogging has taken China by storm over the past year as more young Chinese people have become inspired to grab a camera and recount the details of their day on Sina Weibo, Bilibili or WeChat Moments.

    "The most important thing about vlogging is to tell a good story. Other visual(视觉的) effects are auxiliary(辅助的)," wrote US vlogger Casey Neista, who has almost 10 million subscribers on YouTube. Chinese vlogger Wang Xiaoguang is an example of a good storyteller. In one of his popular vlog posts, Wang tells the story of traveling to Japan. While there, he took a ride in the wrong direction and got lost. Worse, he forgot to bring a phone charger. Luckily he was able to borrow money from a stranger and escape trouble. His short but fun video stories have gained an amazing 1.72 million followers on Sina Weibo.

    Another key aspect(方面) of vlogs is that the content is based on everyday life, according to Ouyang Nana,

    18, a young Chinese musician. Studying in the US at Berklee College of Music, she documents the life of a college student. Ordinary as the vlogs are, as many as 15 million fans share her wows and woes on a daily basis. Some other popular vloggers choose to show their careers(职业) – the challenges and setbacks, as well as the rewarding moments. Take a look at the vlogs by Peng Yixuan, a news reporter with China Daily. She recorded her first experience attending and reporting on the two sessions (两会) in March of this year. From choosing an outfit to preparing her story, she presented the important event with a relaxed, chatty and personal approach, "bringing more warmth" to the political event, according to People's Daily.

    There are popular vlogs for beauty, gaming, fashion, food and travel. Famous vloggers come from all walks of life, so what are you waiting for? Grab a camera!