that people are not driven by facts. They are not enough to alter beliefs, and they are practically useless for motivating action. Consider climate change: there are mountains of data indicating that humans play a role in warming the globe, yet approximately 50% of the world's population doesn't believe it. What about health? Hundreds of studies show that exercise is good for you and people believe this to be so, yet this knowledge fails miserably at getting many to step on a treadmill(跑步机).
The problem with an approach that prioritizes information is that it ignores the core of what makes us human: our motives, our fears, our hopes, our desires, our prior beliefs. In fact, the tsunami of information we are receiving today can make us even less sensitive to data because we've become accustomed to finding support for absolutely anything we want to believe with a simple click of the mouse. Instead, our need for agency, our craving to be right, and a longing to feel part of a group really count. It is those motivations we need to tap into to make a change, whether within ourselves or in others.
62. People love spreading information and sharing opinions because _____. A. they often think their thoughts are superior to others' B. they can provide a lasting pleasure of communication C. they want to affect the behaviours and beliefs of others D. they are able to understand others' inner world better
63. The examples of climate change and health indicate that _____. A. data and logical thinking aren't bound to change minds B numbers and statistics are persuasive enough to others C. people's deeds and minds don't agree with each other D. people are fed up with huge amounts of data and studies 64. What does the writer stress in the passage? A. Behaviors determine our beliefs. B. Our desires shape what we believe. C. We shouldn't force our ideas on others. D. Too much information serves no purpose.
D
My dearest daughter,
As I looked across at you sitting on the sofa watching The X Factor, I noticed that you are no longer a child, and that having just celebrated your 14th birthday, you are now a young woman starting a journey into becoming an adult woman. As I looked at you, I remembered myself at 14, and the vastly different places we are beginning this journey from.
Your identity as a mixed-race young woman, with an English father and a Pakistani mother, has already influenced how you place yourself in this world. As yet, you are unaware of the personal struggles that I took at the age of 25 to marry. How it felt when my mother refused to come to my wedding. The sharp criticisms of the Asian community that such marriages do not work out and always end in divorce. The confidence I had to grow, as we chose to live in a multicultural community, as I refused to be shamed into living in the leafier white suburbs.
11
April 2018, Manchester