Ques:The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right" into positive ones like "I can succeed." But was positive thinking advocate Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking? Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are. The study's authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing   older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your friend who is slow to learn that he has the potential of an Einstein, _ . In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written. In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students' self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, "I am lovable." Those with low self-esteem didn't feel better after the forced self-affirmation  . In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren't urged to think positive thoughts. The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy   that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation   techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic viewpoint. Call it the power of negative thinking. According to the study of the Canadian researchers,   _  . A) positive thinking is not as powerful as negative thinking B) encouraging positive thinking may actually discourage people C) happy people can think positively while unhappy people can't D) getting people to think positively can strengthen their confidence

Ans:B
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Ques:Many of people like cooking but never have much time for it. Helen Fry's new book Quick Cookinghas been specially written for busy people. It has over 1,000 recipes, from the famous Spanish gazpacho to Swedish smorgasbord. The book is well written and the photographs and drawings are clear. (They are like those in the excellent littleQuick DressmakingandQuick Gardening.) The book has a strong plastic cover. It is easy to find your way around it too. And busy people, notice this, Mrs Fry tells you how much time you need in order to get each dish ready. Quick Cooking has four parts, one for each season. This helps you to use fresh fruit and vegetable when they are cheaper--and, of course, better. There are a lot of exciting ideas from foreign countries, and most of the recipes are easy to follow. You take something simple like a chicken or some cheese, and make an unusual dish out of it. For example, there are no fewer than 40 recipes for eggs! Mrs Fry does not plan complete meals for the "quick book". The beginners will have to find out a lot of things for himself or herself. But this ought to be difficult with such a good book. I wanted to try many of the recipes as soon as I read them. For people with little spare time, Helen Fry's Quick Cooking is excellent value. Helen Fry's book is called Quick Cooking because   _   . A) You can cook all the dishes in it quickly B) There is over 1,000 recipes in it C) It is written for people who don't have much time D) It tells you how to cook all kinds of food quickly

Ans:C
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Ques:My problems started after I went to a boarding  school. I was only 14, and at first I misses my family a lot. I often called them and cried on the phone. But after two weeks, I found I enjoyed being with my classmates at school. I had many friends who were boys. I thought of them as my best friends - but only friends. I never guessed my friendships with boys would become a problem. Then, three months later, my friends told me that some teachers and girls said I was hanging out with boys all day long in order to get attention from them. Seven months after that, the head teacher Mr. Wang asked the class to choose some students to join the Student Union. I thought I could win for I was doing well in school. I'd already won prizes for the best math and English exams. A week later, the list came out and it didn't include me. I was sad. Mr. Wang came to me and said, "Don't be sad. I know you're excellent! Maybe you are a little distant from the girls in our class. They don't know much about you, so some of them didn't choose you. It doesn't matter. Do your best to get along well with everyone and I think you'll make it next time." Many of the writer's friends in her new school were   _  . A) teachers B) boys C) girls D) women

Ans:B
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Ques:Over the past two weeks, public feedback  was sought on new safety standards for school buses.In the wake of the accidents coming one after another, experts from MIIT drew up a new safety technique document of school buses in December, based on US and EU standards. School bus makers and industry watchers doubt the possibility of these new standards, saying that hiking costs would make school buses unaffordable in rural China.The US-modeled standards also mean that most smaller bus makers will be kept out from the market. These views, however, have aroused anger among netizens who are questioning "why can't we enjoy US standards when it comes to human lives?" Similar debates keep taking place.China falls behind the US on various standards--air quality measurement, mine safety, milk safety and so on.The idea is highly attractive that China presses on with adapting advanced US standards and improves all unsatisfying aspects of social life.However, this is far more complex than drawing up documents on paper. Some standards today were unimaginable just a few years ago.But public demand for using better standards from developed countries is on the rise.The government has to learn from them and keep pushing for higher standards.Adopting PM 2.5 in air quality monitoring follows  _ . On the other hand, it is not always good to copy Western standards.Take the US-style big school buses.Their size makes it tough for them to go on the narrow roads of rural China.Similarly in cities, if school buses carry a "stop" sign like their US counterparts  and enjoy right of way, how many would then complain about the disturbing traffic? China should try its best to develop its own standards.It should have its own schedule to steadily reach higher standards.Over the past decades, the nation has developed many a standard We need to have more confidence, rather than simply copying foreign standards. The new document of school buses was drawn up as a result of  _  . A) public response on new safety standards B) a string of accidents related to school buses C) the public demand for developing US standards D) rising anger about school buses among netizens

Ans:
B
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