C(2025·盐城市鹿鸣路初中三模)
wear, like, reason, similar, come up with
新素材 科普知识 Have you ever had a small stain(污渍) on your shirt and felt as if someone was looking at it? Or perhaps have you made a small mistake in a conversation and thought it would be talked about by others forever? Do you seem to have many 1. worries in your life? If so, you have experienced "the spotlight effect(聚光灯效应)".
The spotlight effect means we usually think that people notice our looks or actions more than they actually do. Thomas Gilovich and Kenneth Savitsky first 2. the idea. In one study, they asked some students 3. ugly T-shirts into a class. The T-shirt wearers thought half of their classmates would notice their T-shirts. However, only about 25% did. One of the 4. is that we all see ourselves as the centre of our world. Sometimes we see everything through our own eyes, 5. our mistakes and successes.
yours, proper, while, speak, in fact
However, 6. you are afraid others are watching you, they are usually thinking about their own problems. When you make a small mistake in your 7. , most people are probably thinking about their own coming talks. When you feel your terrible hairstyle is easy to be noticed, others are probably too busy worrying about their own looks to notice 8. .
Understanding the spotlight effect can be relaxing. 9. , not so many people pay attention to you. So take others' opinions 10. and let go of such unnecessary worries. Don't let them steal your happiness—you're not under a spotlight as much as you think!
D

he, see, knife, because, patient,
make, strong, interest, with, work
Liu Mingzhu didn't expect his gourd(葫芦) lamps would be popular with people, but it seems they are.
Growing up in the Lianchi District of Baoding, Hebei Province, the 59-year-old
1. at a local factory. Making lamps with gourds has been his hobby since 2020.
“I 2. a gourd lamp online by chance and was attracted by its beauty,” Liu said, adding that he believed he could also make them 3. he had been drawing gourds since the 1990s. Exactly, Liu had been
4. in pyrography(烙画) since 1998. In that year, he made his first piece—a pen holder made of a gourd. Since then, he has built a 5. relationship with gourds. In his spare time, Liu spends most of his time
6. artworks from gourds.
“When I touch a gourd, I know whether its skin is thin or thick,” he said. “Making gourd lamps requires using gourds 7. hard, thin skins.” He has made more than 2,000 pyrography works and over 400 gourd lamps. At Liu's home, 8. living room is filled with gourds and gourd lamp works. His pen holder on the work table is filled with pencils and 9. of different types.
“To achieve perfection, I need to sit at my workbench(工作台) for a very long time. It requires a lot of 10. and perseverance(毅力),” he said. “When I see my works are liked by others, I feel satisfied.”