Livestreaming (直播) through channels such as Amazon Live and QVC is an increasingly popular way to sell goods online. It usually lasts between 5 and 10 minutes, and someone promotes a product. Viewers can then readily buy it by clicking on a link.
We analyzed 99,451 sales cases on a livestream selling platform and matched them with actual sales cases. In terms of time, that is equal to over 2 million 30-second television advertisements.
To determine the emotional (情绪的) expression of the salesperson, we used two deep learning models: a face model and an emotion model. The face model discovers the presence or absence of a face in a frame (镜头) of a video stream. The emotion model then determines the probability that a face is exhibiting any of the six basic human emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, fear or disgust. For example, smiling signals a high probability of happiness, while an off-putting expression usually points toward anger.
We wanted to see the effect of emotions expressed at different times in the sales cases so we counted probabilities for each emotion for all 62 million frames in our database. We then combined these probabilities with other possible aspects that might drive sales—such as price and product characteristics—to judge the effect of emotion.
We found that, perhaps unsurprisingly, when salespeople show more negative emotions-such as anger and disgust—the volume of sales went down. But we also found that a similar thing happened when the salespeople show high levels of positive emotions, such as happiness or surprise.
A likely explanation, based on our research, is that smiling can be unpleasant because it lacks true feelings and can reduce trust in the seller. A seller’s happiness may be taken as a sign that the seller is gaining interests at the customer’s expense.
1．What can we know about the livestreaming in the first paragraph?| A．It damages the physical economy. |
| B．It helps to sell the products abroad. |
| C．It helps big companies promote all goods. |
| D．It is very convenient for the buyers to buy goods. |
| A．By analyzing previous data. | B．By referring to a theory. |
| C．By giving some examples. | D．By concluding different views |
| A．Surprising. | B．Delighting. | C．Displeasing. | D．Embarrassing. |
| A．Livestreamers Sell Products Successfully |
| B．Expressions Affect Selling Products Online |
| C．Emotions and Faces: What’s the Difference |
| D．Smiling Can Increase the Sales in Reality |
| A．Salesperson and customer. | B．Homeowner and cleaner. | C．Husband and wife. |
| A．One with two bedrooms. | B．One without furniture. | C．One near a market. |
| A．＄350. | B．＄400. | C．＄415. |
| A．On Lake Street. | B．On Market Street. | C．On South Street. |
| A．Medicine. | B．Education. | C．Artificial intelligence. |
| A．To create a system for healthcare. |
| B．To open up possibilities in finance. |
| C．To teach a machine to identify different birds. |
| A．Storing data. | B．Detecting diseases. | C．Producing reports. |
| A．Fearful. | B．Hopeful. | C．Doubtful. |
| A．He opened a supermarket. |
| B．He did several different jobs. |
| C．He worked as a chef in a restaurant. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Well-paid. | C．Enjoyable. |
| A．Assisting chefs. |
| B．Cooking every day. |
| C．Managing the kitchen. |
| A．Preparing food carefully. |
| B．Handling stressful situations. |
| C．Buying high-quality ingredients. |
Choose What to Remember, What to Forget
I was sorting through some boxes in the drawer last week when I came across a teddy bear from my childhood.
First, volunteers were shown how to create connections between an item and negative emotions. They did this using vivid mental imagery (意象) — linking a child’s sports shoes to images of a playground accident, for example, so that the object became uncomfortable to have nearby.
The pictures you attach to things can connect you to some extremely powerful memories, for good or bad.
| A．Unpleasant past memories flashed through my mind. |
| B．It shows that recall relies on associations and images. |
| C．Not all objects make such welcome memories, however. |
| D．Powerful memories flooded back from nearly 50 years before. |
| E．But the good news is that you can choose to remember the good things. |
| F．Again, strengthening the images will continually sharpen the memories. |
| G．Later, they were shown how to actively forget those feelings by pushing away any pictures. |
Can you imagine there being a community where boys and girls growing up together can finally speak different languages? In Ubang Nigeria, it really happens. It’s not exactly clear what percentage of the words in the men’s and women’s languages are different, but there are enough examples to make sentences sound different when spoken by the opposite sex. For “clothing”, men use the word “nki”, while women say “ariga”; “kitchi” means tree for men, while women say “okweng”. These are not just some slight pronunciation differences, but totally different words. “It’s almost like two different lexicons (词汇集),” a language expert, Chi Chi Undle said. “There are a lot of words that men and women share in common, but there are others which are totally different depending on your sex. They don’t sound alike, and don’t have the same letters. They are completely different words.”
Interestingly, both men and women are able to understand each other perfectly in Ubang, as both boys and girls grow up around their parents and get to learn both languages, but by the age of 10, boys are expected to speak in the male tongue. It seems that there is a stage the male will reach and he discovers he is not using the rightful language. When he starts speaking the men’s language, you know the maturity is coming into him.
No one really knows how or why the double-language tradition of Ubang began. Chi Chi Undie believes the two languages are the result of a “double-sex culture” where men and women operate in two separate spheres (范围) and live in separate worlds that rarely come together. However, she admits this is a weak theory, as the double-sex culture is present in many parts of Africa, where there are no different languages for men and women.
Today, with English words constantly entering the lexicon of young Nigerians, Ubang’s two languages are in danger of being lost forever. Worse still, neither the male nor female language is written down, so they both rely on young people passing them down to the next generation.
1．What do we know about languages in Ubang?| A．Word differences account for a high percentage. |
| B．Men and women speak totally different languages. |
| C．Word differences partly exist between the opposite sex. |
| D．Men and women pronounce differently on the same word. |
| A．Their lexicons sound alike. |
| B．They learn both languages at school. |
| C．The men can speak two different languages. |
| D．They are exposed to both languages in their childhood. |
| A．The change of double-sex culture. |
| B．The theory of doube-sex culture. |
| C．The origin of double-language tradition. |
| D．The sphere of double-language tradition. |
| A．Frightened. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Confused. | D．Stressed. |
I sat down to watch a recorded TV play after my husband left for his night-shift job. Not ten minutes into my favorite TV play, I was alerted to the unmistakable beep (哔哔声) of the smoke alarm indicating a low battery. Sighing, I paused my program and got up from the sofa.
I got a stepladder, climbed up it and quickly replaced the battery. The second I sat down and started watching my play, the beep started again. Evidently, the replacement battery was dead, too, so I went through all the motions again. I’d barely picked up the remote and pressed Play a third time when the alarm went off yet again. I gave out some unladylike comments. This time, I was one rung down when the same thing happened.
By then, I was out of all the batteries. I had to search the entire house for some electronic equipment that housed the same kind. I finally found one in an old clock. I crossed my fingers, hoping the battery still had some juice, and popped it in.
No luck! That round, plastic thing that was designed to save lives was about to make me have a nervous breakdown! Frustrated, I pulled the entire thing out of its “nest” and actually yelled at it to shut up before I tore it up into pieces. Holding it, I climbed back down and almost killed myself by practically falling over the dog and two cats who always watched every move I made and every breath I took. Driving my pet s away, I threw the alarm on the table and reminded myself to sleep fully clothed in case I smelled smoke. Carbon-monoxide (一氧化碳) detection would be taken care of by our back up alarm downstairs.
I glared at the troublesome item once more before walking off to seat myself on the sofa again. My program was already forty-five minutes into the play because I’d forgotten to pause it. Within seconds, that sound hit my ears again!
The neighborhood kids nicknamed the strange old couple Crazy Jack and Ruby Rednose. Rumor was that they sat inside and drank tea all day. The only words we ever heard from them were “Keep out of our rosebushes!”
The rosebushes served as a fence between our house and theirs. I was eleven at the time and the oldest of six active girls. We should have played our softball games elsewhere to avoid hurting the roses, but we secretly enjoyed annoying Crazy Jack and Ruby Rednose. One day, we had a neighborhood softball game in our yard. Mary was trying to catch a fly ball. She stumbled (绊倒) over one of Ruby Rednose’s rosebushes and fell on top of several more. Just at that moment, Ruby Rednose sprang out and ran toward Mary. She screamed angrily, “Look at what you’ve done to our family’s roses! You’ve always been a trouble. You have no idea what this rosebush means to me!”
Hearing this, my sisters and I ran into our house. Breathlessly, we told Mom what had happened. “Girls, I have told you not to play softball near those bushes. Come outside right now and help me fix them.” “Mom, we thought you didn’t like the couple,” we protested. “They’re mean to us.” Mom just glared at us. We followed her outside to help repair the rose fence. While Mom was examining the damaged roses, Ruby slowly walked out. She looked sad. And it wasn’t her nose that was red — it was her eyes.
Examinations are vital for any student. To prepare for the examinations, it is not just one resource you are expected to cover but several.
Sitting at one place at school, your body tends to become stiff (僵硬).
You must eat healthily. Eat mostly home-cooked meals. It is difficult and unrealistic for students our age to remove junk from our diet. Have three proper meals.
The pressure of examination can bring with it several emotions. Therefore, you must have your beloved ones around you instead of being buried in the books the entire day. This can significantly strengthen your mood and you’ll be able to concentrate on your studies better.
| A．This is not a very good sign. |
| B．Waking up early has its benefits. |
| C．Spend time with your family and friends. |
| D．Do not, in any case, miss your breakfast. |
| E．Sleep can improve your day productively. |
| F．During examinations, do not miss daily exercise. |
| G．You will study from textbooks, notes, and online courses. |
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