"Earworms", some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no clear reason you cannot help yourself from humming or singing a tune by Lady Gaga.
To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. Earworms arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to. They are parasites (寄生虫) living in a part of our minds.
If you have got an earworm you can suffer an attack of it simply by someone mentioning the tune, without having to hear it. This proves that earworms are a part of long-term memory. Humans have an "inner ear", for remembering phone numbers, for instance. When it gets infected with earworms, rather than review our plans for the day, or lists of things to remember, the inner ear gets stuck on a few short bars of music or a couple of phrases from a song. A part of us that we normally do not have to think about, that should just do what we ask, has been turned against us, upsetting us with a request that we never asked for. The mind is an inner world which we do not have complete knowledge of, or have control over.
Fortunately psychology can provide some advice on how to deal with an uncontrollable mind. Consider the famous "don’t think of a white bear" problem, which tells you to try not to think about white bears, or to do something else, to avoid both thinking of the white bear and not thinking of the white bear. For earworms, the solution may be the same. Our inner ear has become infected with an earworm. This is a part not under our control, so just sending in instructions to "shut up" is unlikely to be of much help (and has been shown to make it worse). Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task. If your mind is poisoned by Brittany Spears’ Toxic, for instance, then try singing Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head. Let me know if it works!
【小题1】According to the passage, earworms are ______.

Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sadness，failure and success，hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to deal with kinds of situations．

Love

Love plays an important role in our life. Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could become cruel. In the early stage of our life，our parents are the ones who show us with unconditional love and care, they teach us about what is right and wrong，good and bad.

Happiness and Sadness

Happiness achieved by bringing a smile on others face gives a certain level of fulfillment．Peace of mind makes you feel happy. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are sad．

Failure and Success

Success brings in money，fame，pride and self-respect. Failure is the way to success, and it helps us to touch the sky，teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Here it becomes very important to keep our head on our shoulder．

Hope and Despair

Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well．Hope makes us dream．Hope builds in patience．Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour，because after every night there is a day. Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control．Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So what we can choose is to work hard today，so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.

1. In the passage，the author compares life to ___________

A. package? ????????????? ????????????? B. happiness and sadness?

C. failure and success? ????????????? D. hope and despair

2.What does it in the passage 4? mean ?

A. success?? B. failure????? ????????????? C. sky??????? ????????????? D. way

3.What’s the general meaning of the last sentence of the whole passage?

A. What you only can choose is to work hard everyday.

B. If you work hard today, you will have a better life in the future．

C.When choosing between "today”and “tomorrow”, you’d better enjoy tomorrow better.

D. Enjoying a better tomorrow is your only choice．

4.What’s the purpose of the passage?

A. To encourage people to love each other．

B. To tell people how to deal with happiness and sadness．

C. To remind people of keeping having a beautiful dream．

D. To give readers some information about life.

"Earworms", some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no clear reason you cannot help yourself from humming or singing a tune by Lady Gaga.

To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. Earworms arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to. They are parasites (寄生虫) living in a part of our minds.

If you have got an earworm you can suffer an attack of it simply by someone mentioning the tune, without having to hear it. This proves that earworms are a part of long-term memory. Humans have an "inner ear", for remembering phone numbers, for instance. When it gets infected with earworms, rather than review our plans for the day, or lists of things to remember, the inner ear gets stuck on a few short bars of music or a couple of phrases from a song. A part of us that we normally do not have to think about, that should just do what we ask, has been turned against us, upsetting us with a request that we never asked for. The mind is an inner world which we do not have complete knowledge of, or have control over.

Fortunately psychology can provide some advice on how to deal with an uncontrollable mind. Consider the famous "don’t think of a white bear" problem, which tells you to try not to think about white bears, or to do something else, to avoid both thinking of the white bear and not thinking of the white bear. For earworms, the solution may be the same. Our inner ear has become infected with an earworm. This is a part not under our control, so just sending in instructions to "shut up" is unlikely to be of much help (and has been shown to make it worse). Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task. If your mind is poisoned by Brittany Spears’ Toxic, for instance, then try singing Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head. Let me know if it works!

1.According to the passage, earworms are ______.

A．songs that keep going round in our mind

B．worms that live in a part of our brain

C．tunes by pop singers like Lady Gaga

D．parasites clearly under our control

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Singing songs may get earworms out of your head.

B．Earworms are used for keeping long-term memory.

C．Humans do not have complete control over their mind.

D．You won’t suffer from earworms unless you hear the song.

3.What does “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．The instruction to shut up your mind.

B．“Don’t think of the white bear” problem.

C．Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head.

D．Using the earworm-infected inner ear in another task.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A．The causes and influences of earworms.

B．What earworms are and how to deal with them.

C．How to clear earworms out of your head.

D．The relation between earworms and popular songs.

Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sadness，failure and success，hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to deal with kinds of situations．
Love
Love plays an important role in our life. Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could become cruel. In the early stage of our life，our parents are the ones who show us with unconditional love and care, they teach us about what is right and wrong，good and bad.
Happiness and Sadness
Happiness achieved by bringing a smile on others face gives a certain level of fulfillment．Peace of mind makes you feel happy. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are sad．
Failure and Success
Success brings in money，fame，pride and self-respect. Failure is the way to success, and it helps us to touch the sky，teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Here it becomes very important to keep our head on our shoulder．
Hope and Despair
Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well．Hope makes us dream．Hope builds in patience．Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour，because after every night there is a day. Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control．Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So what we can choose is to work hard today，so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.
【小题1】 In the passage，the author compares life to ___________

阅读短文，根据其内容简要回答问题。

Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

       Mardi Gras is held on the Tuesday that is 46 days before Easter（复活节）．The 12 days before it are filled with over 70 parades of dazzling floats（精彩的花车巡游）-there are 9 parades on the day of Mardi Gras alone! Come join us for a festival you’ll never forget!

Parades of Mardi Gras Floats

Tips for visitors:

Plan ahead: Many hotels start taking reservations（预定） for Mardi Gras in August．To get the room you want，call well ahead．（52） Don’t wait until January!

Plan your transportation: Remember that many streets are closed to cars．Bus time is often changed．

Get there early: For the big parades on the weekend before Mardi Gras，plan to arrive about four hours ahead of time．For the Sunday Night Parade at 6 P. M，you will need to find a good spot in the morning．

Check the weather: It can be very warm or very cold at this time of year．You might need a jacket，sunglasses，or an umbrella-or all three．

Catch Mardi Gras ‘throws’: People riding on floats（花车） in the parades give ‘throws ’ to the crowd．People jump up to catch beads，plastic coins，cups，and toy animals Bring a plastic bag to hold all your treasures．For more information，call Tourist Information Center，

（800）555-6789

Mardi Gras Beads

1．What does “it” in the first paragraph refer to?

2．According to the text，what’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined sentence?

3．When should you arrive if you want to find a good spot for the Sunday Night Parade?

4．How is the weather in New Orleans at this time of year?

5．What are the “throws”?