This year I was chosen as the vice monitor (副班长) of the class. At first, I was really excited to have been chosen. And I like the monitor, Charlie as well,{#blank#}1{#/blank#} has a funny face but works very hard.

    My best friend, Sally, was also happy for me. She said the last vice monitor, Joey, had been very rude and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (kind) to her. She always talked about it, but I usually {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (ignore) it.

    Charlie and I have to stay behind after school to make sure the classroom is clean. I came back before Charlie last Thursday. I found Sally at Joey's desk {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (cut) up Joey's English textbook. I was {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (extreme) shocked. Sally asked me not to tell anyone. After that, she ran out and Charlie came in.

    Charlie saw the book and soon realized {#blank#}6{#/blank#} had happened. He asked me what I had seen but I said {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. The next day, Joey was crying. She was {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (frighten) to tell our teacher because he may think she did it. Sally is happy about this. This makes me angry. Charlie insists that I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (tell) our teacher the truth, but I am concerned {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the friendship with Sally. What should I do?

    Did you know that what you think you like and don't like is often the result of false beliefs? As humans, we tend to be {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (easy) influenced when it comes to liking or disliking something, and we're happy to have our existing beliefs confirmed. But once these beliefs became fixed, we often lose our ability to be {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (object) and we don't like to have our ideas challenged.  Generally speaking, human beings are not good at taking a {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (balance) view of things. For instance, we unconsciously start to listen for and select information that {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (match) our beliefs and turn a blind eye to information that doesn't, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (reject) it out of hand. We don't always like to accept new information that doesn't match up with what we already believe.

    As a result, we often don't even consider the reasons behind {#blank#}6{#/blank#} opposing point of view. Instead, we look for evidence that confirms {#blank#}7{#/blank#} we had already thought, and which conforms to our own point of view. We're more likely {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (give) meaning to information that matches the beliefs we already have. In other words, we are biased (偏见) towards certain information. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} can come as a shock when information we {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (trust) is actually exposed to be untrue.