In the 19th century, there used to be a model of how to be a good person. There are all these torrents of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, is to erect dams to keep these passions in check. Your job is to just say no to laziness, lust, greed, drug use and the other sins. These days that model is out of fashion. You usually can't change your behavior by simply resolving to do something. Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. Your willpower is not like a dam that can block the torrent of self-indulgence. It's more like a muscle, which tires easily. Moreover, you're a social being. If everybody around you is overeating, you'll probably do so, too. The 19th-century character model was based on an understanding of free will. Today, we know that free will is bounded. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things, even within ourselves, are beyond our direct control. Much of our behavior, for example, is guided by unconscious habits. Researchers at Duke University calculated that more than 40 percent of the actions we take are governed by habit, not actual decisions. Researchers have also come to understand the structure of habits--cue, routine, reward. You can change your own personal habits. If you leave running shorts on the floor at night, that'll be a cue to go running in the morning. Don't try to ignore your afternoon snack craving. Every time you feel the cue for a snack, insert another routine. Take a walk. Their research thus implies a different character model, which is supposed to manipulate the neuralnetworks inside. To be an effective person, under this model, you are supposed to coolly examine your own unconscious habits, and the habits of those under your care. You are supposed to devise strategies to alter the cues and routines. Every relationship becomes slightly manipulative, including your relationship with yourself. You're trying to arouse certain responses by implanting certain cues. This is a bit... According to the new character model, personal behavior could be altered through A) techniques to break old routines. B) techniques to provide different physical cues. C) cues to change all the former unconscious habits. D) cues to manipulate the habitual neural responses.
B
It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor.On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues turned to me and said, "Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life." At my inquiry, he answered, "Because the students you have gotten to know have to leave." As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague's words no longer existed.When I came across naughty students, I have had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher.It obviously isn't the money.Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change.He was working at Nintendo Corporation.His salary was higher than my current one, though I have more education and have worked for over a decade.With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired.I thanked him, but declined his kind offer. A few days before this current graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student had slipped in with her homework.She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class--not about math, but about life--would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away.As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher. Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of _ , I did so with renewed dedication and a deeper sense of satisfaction--I will always be grateful that I am a teacher. Hearing his colleague's description of graduation for the first time, the author _ . A) quite agreed with his colleague B) was very puzzled C) thought it very funny D) was very sad
B
Q: A well-dressed man came to a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife's birthday. The price didn't matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left. A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, because she wanted a pair of earrings made, "Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl? " said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, "I would say it's exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl. " The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right. Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. "I don't like to part with it," she said sadly, "I inherited it from my mother, and my mother inherited it from hers. But I really need the money. " The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man's hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found. The jeweler couldn't find the man anywhere because _ . A) he died suddenly B) He happened to be out C) He got $ 20,00 by cheating and had run away with the money D) He wouldn't show up until the jeweler called him a second time
A: C
Q: Prison Break is a huge hit thanks to its handsome star,Wentworth Miller. His actor, Michael Scofield, is the engine that drives the show. Michael Scofield is one of the most interesting personalities on television today. But what about the man behind the character? Miller,35,is a hard guy to figure out. He does not come from a normal background and has never lived his life in a typical way. Milier didn't take a direct path to fame and fortune. He graduated from Princeton University in 1995,not with a degree in theatre or film, but in English. He didn't even act when he was in college. His only performance experience was in his university's singing group. Yet, at graduation Miller still decided to make the move to prefix = st1 /Hollywood. Miller has always been different. Although he is American, he was born in Britainwhen his father was studying there. His family background is also a special mix of cultures. "My father is black and my mother is white. That means I have always been caught in the middle. I could be either one, which can make you feel out of place," Miller says. Following his unusual path,Miller did not start trying out for films and TV shows when he first got to Hollywood. Instead, he worked as a lowly production assistant. Not what you would expect from a Princeton graduate. However, _ . In 2002,Miller played a role in the drama Dinotopia. He starred as a thoughtful and shy man. Producers remembered his performance when they were castingPrison Breaktwo years later. With a golden globe nomination and another season of Prison Breakon his resume ,Miller seems ready to take over all of Hollywood. What do you think the text is mainly about? A) What kind person Michael Scofield is. B) Miller's unusual path to fame and fortune. C) Why Fox's Prison Break became a huge hit. D) How special Miller is in the entertainment field.
A: B