會考114英語

[題組:第32～34題]
The IKEA Effect
Many years ago, Dan Ariely bought a cabinet from IKEA. IKEA is a famous furniture store that sells boxes of furniture parts. People who buy them have to put all the parts together themselves. It took Ariely hours to build his cabinet. Ariely didn’t really enjoy himself when he was trying to put all the parts together. However, after he finished, he felt quite good about himself and his cabinet. Later, he found that he loved his cabinet more than any of his other furniture.
Ariely wanted to know if anyone shared his feelings, so he did a fun origami study. He invited two groups of people to join his study. He called one group “builders” and the other group “buyers.”
Builders were told to make origami, like paper frogs or paper birds. When they finished, they were asked how much they would spend on their works. Ariely then showed the origami to buyers and asked them how much they would pay for them. The two groups gave very different answers. Though buyers would pay only five cents for builders’ origami, builders would spend 25 cents! Interestingly, builders believed others would think their works were good enough to cost that much money!
Ariely’s study showed that he was not alone in his IKEA experience—we just love things more, sometimes blindly, when we make them ourselves. Ariely called it “the IKEA effect.”
What did Ariely try to find out in the origami study?
(A) If he could stop the IKEA effect.
(B) Why people love making origami.
(C) Why IKEA furniture is so famous.
(D) If anyone shared his IKEA experience.

[題組:第35～37題]In the picture is a UK electricity worker in the 1970s. Pictures like this appeared in many newspapers at the time. In 1972, electricity workers in the UK asked to be paid more,
and they decided to stop working until their wish was answered. The government worried
that there wouldn’t be enough electricity for the country if these workers didn’t go to work,
so it agreed to give them the pay rise. However, the story didn’t end there.
A year later, the electricity workers asked for another pay rise. To get what they
wanted, they worked shorter hours and acted like they would walk away from their job
anytime. But this time, the government decided to fight. To save electricity, it made new
rules for people to follow. For example, each family could turn on the heat in only one
room; TV stations had to stop their shows at 10:30 p.m.; businesses could open only three
days a week.
People’s lives were greatly changed. Without enough heat to keep the house warm,
people covered themselves in blankets all the time. Hospitals had to use candles because
they couldn’t keep all the lights on. Factories couldn’t keep their machines working. Many
people lost their jobs. For months, people were paying the price while the electricity
workers were fighting for their wish. In the end, the government agreed to the second pay
rise. This picture shows what many people thought of the electricity workers during the
“dark” time.
What is the reading mainly about?
(A) The tips on using a picture to tell a story.
(B) The change that electricity brought to people’s lives.
(C) The history behind the picture of a UK electricity worker.
(D) The story of a famous UK electricity worker from the 1970s.

[題組:第35～37題]
In the UK in the 1970s, what did people most likely think of the UK electricity workers?
(A) They were not brave enough to fix their problems.
(B) They worked like robots and never learned to change.
(C) They were asking too much and did not know when to stop.
(D) They did not care whether their job might hurt people’s health.