91. What does the author say about the black box?
A) It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.
B) The idea for its design comes from a comic book.
C) Its ability to ward off disasters is incredible.
D) It is an indispensable device on an airplane.
92. What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?
A) Data for analyzing the cause of the crash.
B) The total number of passengers on board.
C) The scene of the crash and extent of the damage.
D) Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash.
93. Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?
A) New materials became available by that time.
B) Too much space was needed for its installation.
C) The early models often got damaged in the crash.
D) The early models didn't provide the needed data.
94. Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?
A) To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.
B) To caution people to handle them with care.
C) To make them easily identifiable.
D) To conform to international standards.
95. What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?
A) There is still a good chance of their being recovered.
B) There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.
C) They have stopped sending homing signals.
D) They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.
Passage Six
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 dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you're just underlining his faults. 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 (心理治疗) 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 (静思) techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.
96. What do we learn from the first paragraph about the self-help industry?
A) It is a highly profitable industry.
B) It is based on the concept of positive thinking.
C) It was established by Norman Vincent Peale.
D) It has yielded positive results.
97. What is the finding of the Canadian researchers?
A) Encouraging positive thinking many do more harm than good.
B) There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems.
C) Unhappy people cannot think positively.
D) The power of positive thinking is limited.
98. What does the author mean by "… you're just underlining his faults" (Line 4, Para. 3)?
A) You are not taking his mistakes seriously enough.
B) You are pointing out the errors he has committed.
C) You are emphasizing the fact that he is not intelligent.
D) You are trying to make him feel better about his faults.
99. What do we learn from the experiment of Wood, Lee and Perunovic?
A) It is important for people to continually boost their self-esteem.
B) Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one's mood.
C) Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem.
D) People with low self-esteem seldom write down their true feelings.
100. What do we learn from the last paragraph?