【推荐1】Some in the Western media are sensationalizing the tepid response of Chinese consumers to new iPhone products, and some previously went so far as to suggest that China was imposing a ban on iPhones.

This doesn’t make sense. As a market economy, Chinese consumers have the right to choose from a competitive phone market.

At an event held on Wednesday, Apple Inc introduced its new series of iPhones, which come with new chips and new titanium shells and a USB-C charging cable. The iPhone 15 series comes after Huawei started selling its Mate 60 series and the Mate X5.

The launch of the two brands’ new phones generated different reactions from Chinese netizens. For example, the iPhone 15’s launch event was not on the most-searched lists of many popular Chinese online platforms such as Sina Weibo. In contrast, Huawei’s Mate 60 series was trending on Chinese social media platforms during its launch in late August.

Some researchers point out that there is absence of groundbreaking technological features in the new iPhone series; instead, they have been relying on brand loyalty to sell its smartphones. They also say that Huawei’s strong comeback gives users more choice, and will force Apple out of its comfort zone to improve its technology, although it has been the most purchased smartphone in China for years. According to market research company Counterpoint, Apple dominated the Chinese smartphone market with a share of 19.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023, followed by Chinese phone brands such as Oppo (18.3 percent), Vivo (17.7 percent), Honor (14.6 percent), Xiaomi(13.6 percent) and Huawei (9.2 percent).

This shows that the market share of Chinese brands is growing quickly. Among China’s more than 1 billion smartphone users, more than half are using middle-range handsets. They already have reasonable expectations for the money they will invest in electronic devices. They also attach great importance to innovative functions of smart phones that can cater to their individual needs. So the fact that a number of Chinese smartphone makers are rapidly catching up and even surpassing iPhone in certain features is really a good news for them. Plus most domestic-brand smartphones are within their reach.

The market share of smartphone brands in China clearly shows that smartphone sales are decided by market factors and not political factors. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry told a news conference on Wednesday that there are no laws, regulations or policy documents prohibiting the purchase and use of mobile phones of foreign brands such as Apple.

China is now the third-largest market for Apple, and has also been a growth engine and manufacturing hub for Apple for years now. It brings in roughly 20 percent of the US tech giant’s total revenue and is a key part of the supply chain for iPhones, MacBooks and other devices.

It’s time the Western media stopped churning out these “ban” stories.

1. Which of the following words is closest in meaning with the underlined word in paragraph 1?

A．tense

B．unenthusiastic

C．passionate

D．indifferent

2. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．China is a major competitor to Apple in the smartphone market, affecting its global operations.

B．Huawei’s performance in smartphone market will prompt Apple to focus on expanding its market presence in China.

C．Apple may have to prioritize technological innovation in its future smartphone release.

D．The Chinese government discourages but does not prohibit the purchase and use of mobile phones of foreign brands.

3. What are the reasons behind the growing market share of Chinese smartphone brands in China?

A．Chinese government subsidies (补贴) and support for local smartphone brands.

B．The aggressive marketing strategies employed by Chinese smartphone companies.

C．The innovative functions and superior technology of Chinese smartphone brands.

D．The affordability and tailored features of Chinese smartphone brands.

4. Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?

A．Chinese ban on iPhones? Think twice.

B．Apple’s iPhone 15 series: facing a ban in China.

C．Huawei’s Mate 60 series: outcompeting Apple’s iPhone 15.

D．Chinese smartphone market: growing rapidly.

【推荐2】In the UK, the government showed throwaway cups should be forbidden altogether by 2023 if they are not all being recycled. As a result, Starbucks said it would try out a 5p (5 pence) cup charge in 20 to 25 central London shops. “We will begin it next month and at first it will last for three months,” the company said, adding that it continued to offer a 25p (25 pence) discount to customers who brought their own reusable cups.

The government agrees plastic waste is a problem and will consider taxing disposable (一次性的) plastics. The committee’s chair, Mary Creagh, said, “The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year. Almost none are recycled. Coffee cup producers and shops haven’t taken action to change this. So we need to kick-start a change in recycling.”

The Liberal Democrats said they had been suggesting a charge on coffee cups since September 2016. The party’s spokesman, Tim Farron, said, “The result is clear that the tax works. The 5p charge on plastic bags has largely cut down the usage and helped protect our environment.”

The 5p tax is being against by the makers of paper cups. Mike Tuner, of the Paper Cup Alliance, said paper cups were the safest solution for drinks. “The paper cups we produce in the UK can be recycled, and are being recycled. We are trying to increase recycling rates. Taxing the morning coffee run won’t solve the problem, but it will hurt consumers,” he said.

Disposable coffee cups are technically recyclable, but most are not because the UK has just three machines that can split the paper and plastic parts for recycling. The committee has called on the government to require coffee cups from cafes without in-store recycling systems to carry “not recycled” marks to remind customers. Cafes with in-store recycling systems should print their cups with “recyclable in store only”.

1. About the throwaway cups, Starbucks will ________.

A．offer a half-price discount to customers with their own cups

B．support the idea of forbidding throwaway cups till 2023

C．charge customers 5p per throwaway cup in some shops

D．stop to offer throwaway cups in its shops right now

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Coffee cup makers will take action to recycle the water.

B．The use of the disposable plastics is a nationwide problem.

C．Coffee cup users pay much attention to the plastic problem.

D．The UK government will ban all disposable coffee cups by 2023.

3. What will be the result of introducing a charge for disposable coffee cups, in Tim Farron’s opinion?

A．More people will fight against the charge.

B．There will be little change in our environment.

C．Fewer people will use the disposable coffee cups.

D．There will be a competition between coffee shops.

4. According to Mike Turner, taxing the paper coffee cups ________.

A．will be supported by the makers of the paper cups

B．will affect the consumers instead of solving the problem

C．can give a hand to increasing recycling rates of the makers

D．can be the best solution for the government to cut down waste

5. What’s the real problem about disposable coffee cups’ recycling in the UK?

A．There are not enough professionals in this area.

B．There is not enough professional equipment.

C．Consumers don’t have recycling knowledge.

D．Cafes don’t have recycling systems at all.

【推荐3】In late 2022, Matthew Pittman and Eric Haley carried out three studies on Americans aged 18-65 to test how people in different situations react to ads differently.

The control group in each study was asked to just look at an ad. The second group had to memorize a nine-digit number and then look at an ad. The third group looked through their Instagram updates for 30 seconds before looking at an ad. The first study used an ad for a meal preparation service, the second was for ice cream and the third was for coffee beans. The ad photos and introductions were the same for everyone in each group, with only the number of likes being different. Participants may see an ad with a few hundred likes or tens of thousands of likes. After viewing the ad, each participant rated how willing they would be to buy the product. The group that used Instagram first was the most likely to want to buy the product when there were lots of likes.

In the second study, participants were asked why they wanted to buy the product and those in the control group gave simple, reasonable answers for their choice. “I was thinking of the taste of the ice cream and how delicious it would be.” Or “I like the ad. It’s simple and clean. It gets straight to the point.” However, most of those who had viewed social media content for 30 seconds gave answers that made no sense. For example, some gave one-word answers like “food” or “plate”. Researchers refer to this as “cognitive overload”.

Then the researchers further developed their study of the ad for coffee beans. And they discovered that those who often drank coffee carefully considered many factors, like the type of the beans and their country of production. So even when these people were in a mental fog, they were not convinced by ads with a large number of likes.

By understanding how they might be influenced by social media in unconscious ways,   consumers can be more thoughtful and hopefully won’t buy a product they don’t need.

1. What can be inferred from the three studies?

A．Social media greatly influences consumer behavior.

B．Ads for food are more popular than other types of ads.

C．People using social media choose more useful products.

D．Memorizing numbers has little effect on buying intentions.

2. What does the underlined part “cognitive overload”   in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．New ideas come into mind quickly.

B．One’s attention can be easily directed.

C．One shows little interest in communication.

D．The brain has too much information to process.

3. What does the researchers’ further study present?

A．Social media is a valuable advertising tool.

B．Product knowledge reduces the outside influence on buying.

C．Consumers with health concerns are careful about shopping.

D．People with a high quality of life hardly buy unnecessary things.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Focus on yourself: you can make good choices

B．Click on more ads to choose the most cost-effective goods

C．Keep up with the times to improve your shopping experience

D．Buy without thinking: you are being influenced by social media

【推荐3】Thousands of birds die each spring and fall when they crash with Chicago’s high-rise buildings, which lie on a major migration path between Canada and Latin America. But the birds don’t die in vain. Since the 1970s, many of them have been collected from the street by the city’s Field Museum. They were classified and recorded in detail there. This unique and detailed set of data has been a scientific windfall, showing that North American migratory birds appear to become smaller in size.

A new study of this data has highlighted an important trend: birds that have bigger brains, relative to their body size, are not shrinking as much as the smaller-brained members of their species. The study is the first to identify a potential link between awareness and animal response to human-made climate change, according to the researchers from Washington University in St. Louis. “As temperatures warm, body sizes are decreasing.” said Justin Baldwin. “But larger-brained species are decreasing less strongly than small-brained species.”

Relative brain size is often considered an indicator of behavioral flexibility in birds, according to the research. “The idea is causing a lot of disagreements when it’s applied to some other animals”, Baldwin said, “but it works for birds.” “Relative brain size connects with increased learning ability, increased memory, longer lifespans and others.” Baldwin said. “In this case, a bigger-brained species of bird might be able to reduce its risk to warming temperatures by searching for habitats with cooler temperatures, for example.” he said.

Birds that had big brains, relative to their bodies, had body-size reductions that were only about one-third of those observed for birds with smaller brains, the study found.

1. Why do some birds die on the way of migration?

A．The spring and fall change quickly.	B．The weather becomes extremely cold.
C．They crash into the tall buildings.	D．Barriers are set up on the migration path.

2. What happened to many of the dead birds?

A．They were kept and studied later on.	B．They were buried in the same streets.
C．They were taken away from the path.	D．They were used to show migratory way.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “shrinking” in paragraph 2?

A．Increasing

B．Decreasing

C．Strengthening

D．weakening

4. How will bigger-brained birds protect themselves from the warming temperatures?

A．By finding cooler homes.	B．By having longer lifespans.
C．By increasing their memory.	D．By changing their behavioral flexibility.