One morning a few years ago，Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man，it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work，he might wear himself out and die an early death.

Only after a week's leave—during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—was Rudenstine able to return to work.

In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. Surprisingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying:“I am so busy.”

We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—this has become the model of a successful life.

Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.

How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—for followers of some religions—for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals，walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.

Rest is a spiritual and biological need；however，in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities，we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath ”is more than simply permission to rest；it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.

50. The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “______”.

　　A. a signal of stress                                   B. a warning of danger

　　C. a sign of age                                       D. a spread of disease

51. According to Paragraph 4,a successful person is one who is believed to ____.

　　A. be able to work without stress　　            B. be more talented than other people

　　C. be more important than anyone else　　 D. be busy working without time to rest

52. Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they ____.

　　A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions

　　B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life

　　C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest

　　D. think that taking a rest means being lazy

53. What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A. We should balance work with rest.

　　B. The Sabbath givers us permission to rest.

　　C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy.”

　　D. We should be available to our family and friends.

　Having one of those days or weeks — when everything seems to annoy you? Even if you do nothing about it, your bad mood will probably go away after some time. But with a little effort, you can forget it much faster — often within a day or two.

　　Walk it off

　　Exercise is the most popular bad-mood buster. A person who’s in a bad mood has low energy and high tension. Taking a fast ten-minute walk, or doing some quick exercises can do wonders towards changing that bad mood.

　　Tune it out

　　Listening to your favorite music for a while can also make tension go away quickly, because music starts associations with past positive experiences we’ve had.

　　Give yourself a pep talk

　　Stop and listen to what’s on your mind. Bad moods are often started by too many negative thoughts. Write them all down on paper; the pessimistic (悲觀的) messages you’ve been giving yourself and then give optimistic answers. ("I still don’t have a job. "vs" I have two interviews next week.")

　　Reduce your stress

　　Relaxation techniques are wonderful mood-lifters. These include deep breathing, stretching and visualizing (想象), all of which sound complicated but aren’t. One easy way to visualize: close your eyes and picture a favorite place, such as the beach. Another simple way to against distress is to make a to-do list. One reason for being in a bad mood is feeling you have no options(選擇權) By taking control over certain areas, you realize you’re not helpless. You can make changes in your mood and life.

　　Avoid things that won’t improve your mood

　　TV may not help much: You need to increase your energy level and stimulate your mind something — that the TV show "Neighbors" won’t do. And before you reach for that piece of cake and coffee, think about how mood and food are linked. Sugar and caffeine contribute to depressed moods. The better choice? Research shows that carbohydrates, such as potatoes and pasta, produce a calming effect in people who have a desire for them.

　　We learn from the text that it might help rid us of a bad mood ________.

　　A. to do nothing about it

　　B. to take a long walk on the beach

　　C. to do some exercises with light music

　　D. to talk it to neighbours

　 Why is it suggested that you close your eyes and picture the beach?

　　A. It is not complicated to do so.

　　B. It is an area to be easily controlled.

　　C. It helps beat a bad mood.

　　D. It brings us a new technique.

　　 TV may not improve your mood because ________.

　　A. it sometimes shows what happens around you

　　B. it keeps you stay unmoved

　　C. it reminds you of eating and drinking

　　D. it produces a calming effect

　　This text most probably appears in ________.

　　A. a book on physical exercises            B. a doctor’s handbook

C. a notice                                          D. a magazine　

One morning a few years ago，Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man，it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work，he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week's leave—during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. Surprisingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying:“I am so busy.”
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—for followers of some religions—for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals，walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need；however，in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities，we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath ”is more than simply permission to rest；it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.
50. The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “______”.
　　A. a signal of stress                                  B. a warning of danger
　　C. a sign of age                                      D. a spread of disease
51. According to Paragraph 4,a successful person is one who is believed to ____.
　　A. be able to work without stress　　            B. be more talented than other people
　　C. be more important than anyone else　　 D. be busy working without time to rest
52. Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they ____.
　　A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions
　　B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life
　　C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest
　　D. think that taking a rest means being lazy
53. What is the main idea of this passage?
　　A. We should balance work with rest.
　　B. The Sabbath givers us permission to rest.
　　C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy.”
　　D. We should be available to our family and friends.

Decision-making under Stress
　　A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (負面的) consequences of a decision.
　　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
　　“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
　　For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
　　This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
　　The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
　　Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
　　This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
【小題1】We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

Decision-making under Stress

　　A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (負面的) consequences of a decision.

　　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.

　　“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

　　For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.

　　This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

　　The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.

　　Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

　　This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A．keep rewards better in their memory

B．recall consequences more effortlessly

C．make risky decisions more frequently

D．learn a subject more effectively

2.According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A．ways of making choices                   B．preference for pleasure

C．tolerance of punishments                 D．responses to suggestions

3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B．men have a greater tendency to slow down

C．women focus more on outcomes

D．men are more likely to take risks