Years ago it was popular to speak of a generation gap, a disagreement between young people and their elders. Parents said that children did not show them proper respect and obedience (服从), while children complained that their parents did not understand them at all. What had gone wrong? Why had the generation gap suddenly appeared? Actually the generation gap has been around for a long time. Many people argue that a gap is built into the fabric (结构) of our society.
One important cause of the generation gap is the chance that young people have to choose their own ways of life. In more traditional societies, when children grow up, they are expected to live in the same area as their parents, to marry people that their parents know and agree to, and to continue the family occupation. In our society, young people often travel great distances for their education, move out of the family home at an early age, marry or live with people whom their parents have never met, and choose occupations different from those of their parents.
In our easily changing society, parents often expect their children to do better than they did: to find better jobs, to make more money, and to do all the things that they were unable to do. Often, however, the strong wish that parents have for their children is another cause of the disagreement between them. Often, they discover that they have very little in common with each other.
Finally, the speed at which changes take place in our society is another cause of the gap between the generations. In a traditional culture, elderly people are valued for their wisdom, but in our society the knowledge of a lifetime may become out of date overnight. The young and the old seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and abilities. No doubt, the generation gap will continue to be a feature of American life for some time to come. Its causes are rooted in the freedom and changes of our society, and in the rapid speed at which society changes.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The concept of generation gap. |
| B．The reasons for generation gap. |
| C．Ways to reduce generation gap. |
| D．Attitudes towards generation gap. |
| A．depend on their parents to make a life |
| B．live with their parents in the same area |
| C．ask their parents for the best advice |
| D．have very little in common with their parents |
| A．Parents should be strict with their children. |
| B．The generation gap is partly caused by the older generation. |
| C．Parents couldn’t do things well themselves. |
| D．The young never want to satisfy their parents. |
| A．Parents are not strict enough with their children. |
| B．The young value the old too much for their wisdom. |
| C．Young people don’t have the knowledge of a lifetime. |
| D．The society develops too fast. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】More and more parents are worrying about their daughters who have become overweight. Girls who think they aren’t popular at school are at higher risk for weight gain, according to a new study. It’s long been known that being overweight can lead to social exclusion for teens, but researchers at Harvard University discovered: whether a student’s opinions of her social position played a role in her weight.
To find out, the researchers measured the body weight of nearly 4,500 girls aged 12 to 18. Two years later, the researchers found all of the girls had gained weight—no surprise, since they were all growing. But girls who thought they were less popular at school were at a 70 percent higher risk of gaining extra weight.
The researchers considered something else besides the collected information, including whether a child was overweight at the start of the study, family income, a mother’s weight, diet, television viewing habits and some other things that can affect childhood weight gain. But the opinions of girl’s popularity are more likely to affect the girls, weight.
Experts suggested that parents concerned about a girl’s weight should look not only at eating habits but also at their child's social network, encouraging relationships with friends and joining in group activities. Meanwhile schools should also organize more programs to help girls build social skills, they added.
1. Which kind of girls is less likely to gain extra weight?| A．Those who like watching TV for a long time per day. |
| B．Those whose parents show no sign of being overweight. |
| C．Those who are self-centered and not optimistic. |
| D．Those who enjoy meals rich in high oil and fat. |
| A．They encourage their kids to study hard. |
| B．They ask their daughters to cat whatever they want. |
| C．They record the body weight measurements of their own kids. |
| D．They make their kids communicate more with others. |
| A．A rising number of teenager girls are becoming overweight. |
| B．Some schools have already organized various activities for teenage girls. |
| C．Girls aged 17 are certainly heavier than those aged 14. |
| D．The researchers reached the final discovery only by studying the collected information. |
| A．topic—argument—description—conclusion |
| B．opinion—supporting examples—conclusion—advice |
| C．opinion—supporting examples—solution—advice |
| D．topic—argument—conclusion—solution |
Revenge Sleep Procrastination
According to the sleep expert Dorothy Chambers, “revenge sleep procrastination” refers to a phenomenon in which we delay going to sleep to do other unimportant things that we haven’t had time to do in the day, and reflects a very poor work and life balance.
The researchers surveyed 2,012 adults and found that over three quarters admit doing a form of revenge sleep procrastination, using their phones right up until falling asleep. Then the researchers selected some social media apps to test how seriously they affect sleep quality. Each participant was asked to wear a smartwatch to record how long it took to fall asleep, and provide feedback on how tired they felt the next morning. The result revealed that the average time taken to fall asleep was over 45 minutes and an increasing tiredness was reported by over half of the participants. It showed that revenge sleep procrastination impacted sleep quality a lot, which can lead to adverse implications on physical and mental health.
So why does it happen? According to the researchers, it’s largely down to the blue light emitted from phone screens. It stimulates the brain and reduces natural melatonin(褪黑素) production, increasing tiredness, and in turn increasing the amount of time spent falling asleep.
The researchers pointed that social media apps encourage the release of “pleasure chemicals”, giving us energy and a “happy” feeling. This could be why many of us choose them as our means of revenge sleep procrastination, even though we know they do have negative effects on our health.
To solve this problem, Dorothy recommended that we shouldn’t use any electronics for at least two hours before sleeping to avoid sleep deprivation. Instead, we should try reading a book or taking deep breaths.
1. What is revenge sleep procrastination?2. What is the effect of revenge sleep procrastination?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
For some procrastinators, their sleep trouble results from the blue light, pleasure chemicals and their unawareness of the bad effects of using social media apps before bed.
4. If you preferred using social media apps before bed, what would you do to fight such a type of sleep revenge procrastination besides the practice mentioned in the passage?(In about 40 words)
【推荐3】Recent research demonstrates the harmful mental health effects caused by social media use, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal tendency and self-harm. Adolescents (青少年) who spend more than three hours per day on social media face twice the risk of poor mental health outcomes.
Addictive feeds — designed to make use of personal data to intensify (增强) users’ content that will keep them on the platform for as long as possible — have dramatically heightened the risk to young users’ well-being and made our children addicted to these social media outlets.
In the first seven years after addictive feeds were introduced, suicide rates for 10- to 14-year-old girls doubled and hospitalizations for suicidal tendency and attempts increased nearly twice for all adolescents.
Instead of responding to the problem, social media empires have made great efforts to keep and capture user engagement, and the consequences have been catastrophic.
Beyond the direct harm of social media addiction, the collection of children’s data by these giant companies puts our kids at huge risk, leaving them vulnerable (易受伤的) to having their location and other personal data tracked, shared and sold online. As a consequence, that data is at greater risk of falling into the wrong hands-including human traffickers, identity thieves and others who might prey (欺凌) on young people.
We will not stand by and watch an arms race among social media mega-corporations (大型企业) over who can best profit from our children’s pain and addiction. That is why we should use and are using every tool at our disposal to fight back against these damaging practices: from the courthouse to the statehouse.
1. What can we learn about addictive feeds?| A．They are food that can easily satisfy people. |
| B．They are internet content that can get people addicted. |
| C．They are kept on the platform just for a short period of time. |
| D．They are personal data stored on the internet for convenience. |
| A．destructive | B．striking | C．unique | D．effective |
| A．To introduce a research finding. |
| B．To explain the harms caused by addictive feeds. |
| C．To blame irresponsible social media mega-corporations. |
| D．To call on people to protect children against social media harms. |
| A．Mental Health Is Safe for Children |
| B．Teens Should Be kept Away from Internet |
| C．Addictive Feeds Heighten Great Risks to Teens |
| D．Social Media Empires Are to Blame for Children’s Safety |
【推荐1】Whether you consume it in ice cream, coffee, cupcakes, pudding, or protein shakes, the vanilla you eat in the future might taste just a little bit sweeter thanks to a surprising new ingredient: used plastic.
Admittedly, it doesn’t sound very appetizing. To scientists Joanna Sadler and Stephen Wallace at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, however, what’s even less delicious is plastic waste, which currently enters the ocean at a rate of 8 million tons per year—enough plastic waste to outweigh all of the ocean’s fish by the year 2050. To help stop the plastic pollution on land and at sea, they’ve designed a novel way to turn it into vanillin, a chemical substance in vanilla extract that gives it its distinct vanilla smell and flavor.
Although it can be found in natural vanilla bean extract, vanillin also can be made synthetically using chemicals coming from petrol. To create it from plastic, instead, researchers genetically modified a strain of E. coli bacteria so that it can make vanillin from a raw material used in the production of plastic bottles.
According to their research paper, around 85% of the world’s vanillin is synthesized from chemicals that are obtained from fossil fuels. That’s because demand for vanillin—which is used widely not only in food, but also in beauty products, cleaning products, and herbicides—is far greater than supply. In Madagascar, which grows 80% of the world’s natural vanilla, pollinating, harvesting, and curing vanilla beans is a long and painstaking process that couldn’t possibly yield enough vanillin for modern appetites. And even if it could, the only way to naturally increase vanillin supply would be to plant more vanilla plantations, which would drive deforestation.
Being able to create vanillin with plastic instead of petroleum means increasing vanillin supply while decreasing plastic waste, reducing industrial reliance on fossil fuels, and preserving forests.
“Using microorganisms to turn waste plastics, which are harmful to the environment, into an important product is a beautiful demonstration of green chemistry,” said Ellis Crawford, publishing editor at the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry.
1. How do scientists produce vanilla?| A．Extracting it from plastic bottles. |
| B．Forming it without bacteria. |
| C．Changing the formula of protein shakes. |
| D．Taking it from ocean life. |
| A．Naturally. | B．Artificially. |
| C．Biologically. | D．Industrially. |
| A．Madagascar is the biggest vanilla import country in the world. |
| B．Making natural vanilla is an easy process. |
| C．Enlarging vanilla plantations is environmentally-friendly. |
| D．Producing vanilla from plastic is a win-win solution. |
| A．In a science magazine. | B．In a travel booklet. |
| C．In an economic textbook. | D．In an advertisement. |
【推荐2】Most parents do not enjoy watching their children act out. Bad behavior by children often results from bad behavior by parents. The first idea that has to go is that poor parenting is what makes children misbehave. The cause of the child’s behavior may lie in the biology of the child. The most important issue is how the parent treats the behavior of the child.
Aggressive (侵略性的) behavior starts early in children’s lives. A study looked at children 6 to 24 months of age. Mothers reported how often their children acted out. They listed kicking, hitting, pulling hair, biting and even hurting animals. The most common actions were hitting or slapping another person. The least common action was hurting animals.
A good many toddlers (学步儿童) began to hit more as they get older. The 24-month-olds were hitting about four to six days a week. Experts can assure parents that these behaviors are normal in small children. The big job is to guide parents. From the start, parents should set limits. They need to respond in ways that may help redirect a child or take his or her attention away. They are better than punishing the child with anger, yelling or beating.
Almost all children will misbehave once in a while. The more aggressive toddlers will need more help. Parents often use their instincts (直觉) to deal with their children. They may respond with anger, threats, and punishment. The better way is to plan to avoid potential battles. If getting ready for school is a problem, come up with ways to make it easier. Ask the child what he or she needs.
You should ignore small bad behavior such as complaining or disrespect. Pick your battles. Do not start with punishments such as ‘no play dates, no TV, no screen time.’ These punishments do not result in better behavior, It is also important to make sure you reward good behavior.
1. What is the key to kids’ bad behavior?| A．Parents’ attitude towards it. |
| B．Parents’ way of thinking. |
| C．Parents’ way of dealing with it. |
| D．Parents’ way of recognition. |
| A．It is natural. | B．It is abnormal. |
| C．It is dangerous. | D．It can be avoided. |
| A．Punish their kids severely. | B．Prevent possible battles. |
| C．Be ignorant of their kids. | D．Respond with threats. |
| A．Teachers. | B．Writers. |
| C．Students. | D．Parents. |
【推荐3】ChatGPT is an AI chatbot (智能聊天程序) from OpenAI, an AI technology company In San Francisco. It can produce any kind of writing as required. Many schools are afraid that ChatGPT could result in dishonesty and harm learning. So the tool, called AI Text Classifier from the same maker, is invented. Its task is to decide whether the writing was produced by students or by AI programs.
OpenAI warns that its new tool—like others already in use—is not perfect. The method for detecting AI-written writing “will be wrong sometimes,” said Jan Leike of OpenAI. “Because of that,” he added, “it shouldn’t be only relied upon when making decisions.”
Teenagers and college students were among the millions of people who began experimenting with ChatGPT after it was put into use on November 30. The tool is a free service on OpenAI’s website. Many people have found ways to use it creatively and harmlessly. Still, some teachers are worried that it could be used to cheat.
So far public schools in some cities, such as New York City and Los Angeles, began to block (阻止) its use in classrooms and on school computers. Public schools in Seattle blocked ChatGPT on all school computers but then opened it to teachers. One spokesman Tim Robinson said teachers wanted to use ChatGPT as a teaching tool. “We can’t afford to ignore (忽视) it,” Robinson said. Students could also use the service as a “personal teacher” or to help create ideas when doing homework, Robinson said.
OpenAI talked about its new tool on a blog recently. But the company added that the tool could help to find some mistakes in writing as well as catch cheating. The longer a piece of writing is, the better the tool is at deciding whether an AI system or a human wrote something.
1. Who are more likely to use AI Text Classifier?| A．Students. | B．Teachers. | C．Parents. | D．Writers. |
| A．Positive. | B．Unconcerned | C．Cautious | D．Satisfied |
| A．It costs the users a lot of money. | B．It often makes wrong decisions. |
| C．They can’t use it as a teaching tool. | D．Students will take advantage of it to cheat. |
| A．Every coin has its two sides. | B．Rome was not built in one day. |
| C．A good beginning is half done. | D．A bit is better than nothing. |
