高考英语时文阅读材料(十六)

编者：如今的英语高考、模拟考的阅读材料（完形填空、阅读理解、任务型阅读）大都选自中国、欧美等主流媒体的最新时鲜文章，与最新人文科技、政治文化接轨。作为一名考生，在接触阅读世界最新潮流的同时也应该积累素材，并培养相关英语文章的阅读能力。

下面摘取了最新的来自中国日报网（CHINA DAILY）的两篇文章，并做了必要的批注，且于文章末尾增添了几个小习题，可自行按照所附的参考答案检测阅读效果。

Passage 1 为什么情人节要送巧克力？

Why do we give chocolate for Valentine‘s Day?

2020-02-14

Photo by Jessica Johnston on Unsplash

It's impossible to navigate （驾驶，路过）virtually any kind of retail store（零售店） in February without seeing displays of pink and red chocolate boxes around every corner. Chocolate has become a standard Valentine's Day gift, right up there with flowers and jewelry, but the treat didn't develop its romantic reputation（名声） overnight. It took centuries of myths, marketing, and traditions to write chocolate into Valentine's Day history.

The first people to connect love and chocolate were the Mayans（玛雅人）. They started brewing（酿造） drinks made from cocoa beans around 500 BC—centuries before the first Feast of St. Valentine. This early hot chocolate was an important part of Mayan wedding rituals（仪式）. The bride and groom would exchange sips of the beverage（饮料） during the ceremony, foreshadowing （预示）chocolate's future status as a universal expression of love.

The Aztecs（阿兹特克人） had a less wholesome（健康的，纯洁的） view of the ingredient（要素）. According to legend, the emperor Montezuma II binged huge quantities of cocoa beans to fuel his romantic affairs. Chocolate does contain small amounts of tryptophan（色氨酸）

and phenylethylamine（苯基乙胺）, two chemicals associated with feelings love and desire, but scientists say there isn't enough of either substance to make chocolate a strong aphrodisiac.

aphrodisiac[ˌæfrəˈdɪziæk]: n. 春药；催欲剂

Stories of chocolate's effects in the bedroom persisted（流传） nonetheless, which might explain why candy-sellers embraced the sweet treats when Valentine's Day became popular. Cadbury debuted the first heart-shaped box of chocolates in 1861, and it was an instant success. The package was embellished（装饰） with cupids and roses to appeal to customers shopping for Valentine's Day gifts. And once the box was empty, it could be used to store keepsakes like love letters and locks of hair. 尽管如此，巧克力对房事效果的传说故事还是流传了下来，这也许可以解释为什么情人节兴起时糖果商会卖这种甜食。1861年吉百利推出了首款心形盒装巧克力，立刻大获成功。这种心形盒子装饰了爱神丘比特的图案和玫瑰花来吸引采购情人节礼品的顾客。如果盒子里的巧克力吃光了，还可以用来装情书和头发等纪念品。

keepsake[ˈkiːpseɪk]: n. 纪念品

Photo by FreeModels Agency on Unsplash

Cadbury didn't patent（申请专利） the heart-shaped chocolate box, so the rest of the candy industry started manufacturing similar packaging of their own. It wasn't long before chocolates became synonymous（商业化） with the newly-commercialized holiday.

Valentine's Day chocolates are exchanged around the world, but they're attached to interesting traditions in some countries. Thanks to a successful marketing campaign, women in Japan have to give \"obligation chocolates\" to all the men they know on February 14.

Passage 2 调查发现：工作时听古典音乐能提高效率

Listening to classical music at work boosts productivity, study finds

Study Finds、Jandan 2019-12-02 09:13

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

The next time you’re struggling to finish up a task at work, throwing on some Bach or Beethoven may worth a try. That’s the main conclusion of an experiment on British workers that found listening to classical music at work can improve productivity by 15%.

An initial survey of 2,000 UK employees revealed （显示）that half regularly listen to music on the job. Some of those employees’ bosses reportedly encourage the practice, but others are strictly against it, believing it hurts work performance. So, British classical music station Scala Radio and psychologist Dr. Becky Spelman set out to determine if background music hurts or hinders workplace efficiency.

Four office workers were asked to transcribe（抄写） two 600-word sets of song lyrics. The first set was transcribed with no music playing, while the other was completed with classical music playing in the background.

The first task, completed in silence, was completed in an average time of 20 minutes and 59 seconds. However, the second transcription exercise that involved music was completed in an average time of 17 minutes and 42 seconds; a difference of three minutes and 17 seconds, or 15%.

\"Music has a very powerful impact on the brain. It affects mood, mental performance and physical performance,” says Dr. Spelman in a media release. “Many people find that listening to certain types of instrumental music can help them with their productivity levels. The music can function as a sort of ‘white noise’, cancelling out（抵消） potentially distracting ambient noise.”

ambient[ˈæmbiənt]: adj. 周围的；外界的；环绕的；产生轻松氛围的

Scala Radio’s initial research had found that many British workers put headphones on first thing when they sit down at their desks to help them concentrate or block out distractions. A third of those respondents said they work harder while listening to music, and 40% think they get more work done.

Many respondents said they listen to music simply to avoid silence (10%), and more than two-thirds of respondents who work from home said they would struggle to concentrate without music playing in the background.

In all, 47% of those polled on their work listening habits said they feel less stressed with background music playing, while over a third said their productivity improves.

\"Provided the music has a calm, regular beat, it can actually help us to stay calm, reducing our stress, slowing our heartrate, and moderating（调节） our pulse,” says Dr. Spelman. “This makes it easier for us to focus on the task at hand rather than entering into ‘flight or fight’ mode, in which it can be very difficult to think clearly because of our elevated levels of adrenaline（肾上腺素） and cortisol（皮质醇）.”

Questions Translate the underlined sentence.

1. It's impossible to navigate （驾驶，路过）virtually any kind of retail store（零售店） in February without seeing displays of pink and red chocolate boxes around every corner.

2. Provided the music has a calm, regular beat, it can actually help us to stay calm, reducing our stress, slowing our heartrate, and moderating（调节） our pulse

Answer

1. 二月份出去逛街，必然会在每个街角的零售店看到各种粉色和红色的巧克力盒。

2. 如果背景音乐的节拍比较平静、有规律，它实际上可以帮助我们保持

平静，减轻我们的压力，减缓我们的心跳，调节我们的脉搏。