Page 48 - index

2024 ‫מועד אביב‬ - 47 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) According to researchers, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on
any given day. Understanding the nature of habits and learning how to form beneficial
ones or change harmful ones is essential in life. For many people, however, creating
new behavior patterns is an almost impossible task. The key to success lies in

(5) something called the habit loop.

Put briefly, a habit loop consists of a cue, a routine and a reward. In his best-selling
book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg gives teeth brushing as an example. He
explains that waking up in the morning with film on one's teeth is the cue that leads
people to go through the routine of brushing their teeth, thereby yielding the reward of a

(10) clean and fresh feeling in their mouth. Research shows that it was the fresh taste of a
new mint-flavored toothpaste called Pepsodent, in addition to the desire to remove the
layer of plaque that gathers on teeth, that gave rise to the widespread practice of teeth
brushing in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Customers claimed
that they began looking forward to the cool and tingling sensation created by the

(15) toothpaste. The habit loop took hold and there was soon a soaring demand for
Pepsodent and other mint-flavored toothpastes.

In order to create a new habit or get rid of an old one it is necessary not just to
identify a cue, a routine and a reward, but also to cultivate a craving that drives the loop.
Duhigg explains that the reason people fail in their attempt to turn a new behavior into a

(20) set habit is that a one-time reward is not enough. Only when a behavior is repeated – and
rewarded – a number of times does the brain begin anticipating the reward. Once the
new routine has become automatic, a habit has been established.

Questions

13. The main purpose of the text is to -

(1) compare the characteristics of beneficial and harmful habits
(2) explain the brain's role in establishing cues, routines and rewards
(3) present an example of a habit loop that is difficult to change
(4) discuss how habits are formed and how to change them

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬
.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬