Gwen Ifill was a famous African-American journalist who fought for social justice through her news stories. After she died in 2016, a student award was set up in her honor.
Ana Rodriguez, a 16-year-old student at Archie Williams High School, won the 2021 Gwen Ifill High School Student of the Year Award. She won due to her real passion for fighting fake news about COVID-19 vaccines, medical studies and other social media dramas.
Rodriguez said that fake news these days is often masked as real news, meaning teenagers and adults need to cultivate a certain type of skepticism before they either react to the news or spread it. “You need to double-check the sources and get a second opinion,” she said, “If you read about vaccines having some kind of aftermath, go and check another website.”
Archie Williams High School English teacher Matthew Leffel nominated (提名) Rodriguez for the award because of her enthusiasm and “purposefulness”. “Ana went very deep with her research,” Leffel said. “She was able to demonstrate the kind of media literacy (媒介素养) skills that we had intended to build.”
The project used a free public fact-checking website called Checkology. Students were required to write an argument on their chosen topic. Then they had to produce a podcast on “The Truth About …”. In Rodriguez’s case, for example, it was “The Truth About Scientific Racism”. Rodriguez also worked on several different topics, including the fake information of COVID-19 vaccines.
She and other students also made their arguments into booklets to hand out. They hoped to educate more people. Some of their other topics included 5G towers, climate change and surveillance (监控) technology.
“Ana was purposeful,” Leffel said. “It was clear she was not just doing it as a class assignment, but as something that had an important meaning for her life.”
1. What does the underlined word “skepticism” probably mean?A.Doubt. | B.Interest. | C.Curiosity. | D.Concern. |
A.To praise Ana’s writing skills. | B.To show Ana’s purpose. |
C.To prove racial existence. | D.To indicate Ana’s ability. |
A.hand out for money | B.make people think critically |
C.learn more knowledge | D.enlarge their topics |
A.Ana does anything with strong purposes | B.Ana does a class assignment very carefully |
C.Ana does run after her life meaning | D.Ana does everything for herself and others |
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【推荐1】It’s no surprise that Jennifer Senior’s insightful magazine cover story “I love My Children, I Hate My Life” is arousing much chatter — nothing gets people talking like the suggestion that bringing up a child is not a completely fulfilling, life-enriching experience. Rather than concluding that children make parents either happy or miserable, Senior suggests we need to redefine happiness: instead of thinking of it as something that can be measured by moment-to-moment joy, we should consider being happy as a past-tense condition. Even though the day-to-day experience of raising kids can be extremely hard, Senior writes that “the very things that in the moment damage our moods can later be sources of intense content and delight.”
The magazine cover showing an attractive mother holding a cute baby is hardly the only Madonna-and-child image on newsstands this week. There are also stories about newly adoptive — and newly single — mom Sandra Bullock, as well as the usual “Jennifer Aniston is pregnant” news. Practically every week features at least one celebrity mom, or mom-to-be, smiling on the newsstands.
In a society that so persistently celebrates procreation (繁衍), is it any wonder that admitting you regret having children is equivalent to admitting you support kitten-killing? It doesn’t seem quite fair, then, to compare the regrets of parents to the regrets of the children. Unhappy parents rarely are encouraged to wonder if they shouldn’t have had kids, but unhappy childless folks are bothered with the message that children are the single most important thing in the world: obviously their misery must be a direct result of the wide-open baby-size holes in their lives.
Of course, the image of parenthood that celebrity magazines like US Weekly and People present is hugely unrealistic, especially when the parents are single mothers like Bullock. According to several studies concluding that parents are less happy than childless couples, single parents are the least happy of all. No shock there, considering how much work it is to raise a kid without a partner to lean on; yet to hear celebrities tell it, raising a kid on their “own” (read: with round-the-clock help) is a piece of cake.
It is hard to imagine that many people are stupid enough to want children because it looks so fantastic — most adults understand that a baby is not a haircut. But it is interesting to wonder if the images we see every week of stress-free, happiness-enhancing parenthood aren’t in some small, subconscious way contributing to our own dissatisfactions with the actual experience, in the same way that a small part of us hoped getting a part of the way celebrities live might make us look just a little bit like them.
1. Jennifer Senior suggests in her article that raising a child can bring ________.A.very temporary delight |
B.great enjoyment in progress |
C.happiness in one’s memory |
D.concern over love and hatred |
A.celebrity moms are a permanent source for gossip. |
B.single mothers with babies deserve greater attention. |
C.news about pregnant celebrities is entertaining. |
D.having children is highly valued by the public. |
A.are less likely to be satisfied with their life |
B.are largely ignored by the media. |
C.fail to fulfill their social responsibilities. |
D.are constantly exposed to criticism. |
A.Having children contributes little to the glamour of celebrity moms. |
B.Celebrity moms have influenced our attitude towards child raising. |
C.Having children intensifies our dissatisfaction with life. |
D.We sometimes neglect the happiness from child raising. |
【推荐2】When people think of word innovators throughout history, male writers likely come to mind. Shakespeare is credited with inventing more than 1,700 words, including “bedroom”, “courtship” and “swagger”. Charles Dickens is said to have first used the words “butterfingers” and “doormat”, and Dr. Seuss reportedly came up with “nerd”.
But despite contributions from famous writers, historians say another group has an even greater impact on the development of language: teenage girls. Women lead up to 90 percent of linguistic (语言的) changes, as sociolinguist William Labov observed in the early 2000s. In fact, he wrote, women are often linguistically ahead of men “by a full generation”.
Now women are leading the charge online. Though Oxford University Press’2023 word of the year, “rizz”, meaning charm, was coined by a man, several runners-up, including “situationship” and “swiftie” were inspired or first used by women. The term “goblin mode”, which refers to lazy behavior, was Oxford’s 2022 word of the year and appears to have been first used by a woman on Twitter in 2009.
It’s often impossible to tell who first used new words. But whether or not young girls invent new phrases, they are more likely to be early adopters of the latest lingo (术语), says University of Toronto linguist Sali Tagliamonte, “They’re pushing changes forward.”
There are a handful of possible reasons why girls lead lexical (词汇的) innovation. According to Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, women tend to be more socially aware. They have larger social circles and may be exposed to more language diversity. And because women tend to be caregivers, boys usually learn language from their mothers, whereas women and girls learn words from other women.
1. Why does the author mention some words coined by male writers?A.To compare male and female writers. |
B.To introduce some well-known writers. |
C.To lead in the topic to be talked about. |
D.To put forward a point to be proved. |
A.Rizz. | B.Situationship. | C.Swiftie. | D.Goblin mode. |
A.Dr. Seuss. | B.William Labov. |
C.Sali Tagliamonte. | D.Gretchen McCulloch. |
A.New Words Are Added to English Dictionaries |
B.Female Teens Take a Lead in Linguistic Changes |
C.Women Are More Sensitive to Language Diversity |
D.New Terms Make Communication More Colorful |
【推荐3】Children moving from primary to secondary school are ill-equipped to deal with the impact of social media, which is playing an increasingly important role in their lives and exposing them to significant emotional risk, according to a report by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England.
The report shows that many children in Grade 7--the first year of secondary school, when almost all students will have a phone and be active on social media--feel under pressure to be constantly connected.
They worry about their online image, particularly when they start to follow celebrities on Instagram and other platforms. They are also concerned about “sharenting”--when parents post pictures of them on social media without their permission--and worry that their parents won’t listen if they ask them take pictures down.
The report, which was created with data from focus group interviews with 8-to 12-year-olds, says that though most social media sites have an official limit of 13, an estimated 75 percent of 10- to 12-year-olds have a social media account.
Some children are almost addicted to "likes", the report says. Aaron, an 11-year-old in Grade 7, told researchers, “If I got 150 likes, I’d be like, that’s pretty cool, it means they like you.” Some children described feeling inferior to those they follow on social media. Aimee, also 11, said, “You might compare yourself because you’re not very pretty compared to them.”
Anne Longfield from Children’s Commissioner for England is calling on parents and teachers to do more to prepare children for the emotional impact of social media as they get older. She wants to see the introduction of compulsory digital literacy and online resilience(适应力) lessons for students in Grades 6 and 7.
“It is also clear that social media companies are still not doing enough to stop under-13s using their platforms in the first place,” Longfield said.
“Just because a child who has learned the safety messages at primary school does not mean they are prepared for all the challenges that social media will present,” Longfield said.
It means a bigger role for schools in making sure children are prepared for emotional demands of social media. And it means social media companies need to take more responsibility,” Longfield said.
1. The underlined word “inferior” in paragraph 5 means ________.A.less aggressive | B.more perfect | C.better | D.worse |
A.How they are seen on social media sites. |
B.Becoming addicted to social media. |
C.Their parents’ monitoring their use of social media. |
D.Their parents’ banning them to post pictures on social media. |
A.tend to copy the celebrities they follow |
B.wish to be recognized by others |
C.ignore the number of likes they get |
D.feel inferior to their followers |
A.Parents should monitor how their children use social media. |
B.Social media companies should set an official age limit of 13. |
C.Social media companies should create special sites for children under 13. |
D.Schools should help equip students for the challenges of social media. |
I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was very organized. Each of her things had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her shouting, “Mary, take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started shouting. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, crying.
Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy (同情) rose up in my heart,
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t noticed Kate had sat up.
She was watching, her tears dried. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on. (294words)
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about? (no more than 15 words)2. What made Kate angry one evening? (no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined word “yelled” mean in Paragraph 2? (one word)
4. Why did Mary tidy up the room? (no more than 5 words)
5. Who do you prefer to make friends with, Kate or Mary? Please give your reasons. (no more than 20 words)
【推荐2】When the sun comes up over the castle of Rocca Calascio, a small mountain village high up in the Italian Apennines, it’s like a silent, magic wonderland. One such sunrise struck Franco Cagnoli with a spiritual calling that led him to go on a mission that affected both the village and him deeply.
Rocca Calascio has seen no resident since 1957. Depopulation of rural or mountain villages in Italy began with the resettlement of villagers in the early 20th century, happening faster after World War II when people were attracted to urban jobs.
However, like many places, the area is enjoying a revival (复苏) and now home to some families. “To put it in romantic terms, there is a love story between me and the ancient building,” Cagnoli said as he showed visitors round the castle of Rocca Calascio. The castle, with foundations dating back about 1, 000 years, is one of the highest in Europe. It began as a tower in a line of connected structures to control and protect the land that stretched inland from the Adriatic Sea.
Cagnoli, now 39, first saw Rocca Calascio when he was 16. He was on a road trip to find himself. “I arrived here as the morning sun lit up the castle. I was blinded by the light and since that day something inside me has changed,” he said. “I thought it was the most beautiful place. I felt special energies, deciding to help its rebirth.” He’s now the castle’s caretaker and head of a cooperative whose members guide visitors.
“Besides temporary visitors, the complete revival has much to do with permanent residents. People of the previous generation didn’t appreciate the land they lived on,” Valeria Befani, a resident in the village, said. “Today’s teenagers, like my children, are proud of their land and are happy if they can stay here. ”
1. What inspired Cagnoli to help revive Rocca Calascio?A.His trip to find himself. |
B.The impressive scene of the village. |
C.His love for ancient buildings. |
D.The historical importance of the castle. |
A.Its population loss speeded up. |
B.It got left behind in economy. |
C.Its buildings were damaged. |
D.It was known by more people. |
A.To attract people to visit. |
B.To reduce attack from waves. |
C.To strengthen coastal defense. |
D.To protect the connected structures. |
A.Views of different generations vary greatly. |
B.Reviving Rocca Calascio has a long way to go. |
C.Teenagers doesn’t appreciate their hometown. |
D.The future of Rocca Calascio is full of promise. |
【推荐3】Approaching 96, at an age when most are lonely and in poor health, Olga Murray, full of energy, has been eagerly planning a trip to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, while keeping in contact with hundreds of friends around the world. How can she be in such good shape? Is it her good genes? (Her mother lived to 98.) Her daily salads and three-times-a-week workouts? Or might it have something to do with the retired lawyer’s second career as founder of a nonprofit organization?
Scientists increasingly are finding that the answer—call it living with purpose, finding meaning in life or just engaging with something larger than yourself can be a particularly healthy pursuit. Living with a sense of purpose can improve the quality of those final years. Murray offers a vivid example of how to create a sense of meaning.
Murray’s story began in 1984, after she had worked 37 years as a lawyer and was starting to think about retirement. At 59, while traveling in Nepal, Murray found herself amazed by the children there. “They were poor beyond anything I had ever experienced,” she recalled in a self-published memoir(自传) years later. “Yet they were the most joyful little kids anywhere on earth.” She wanted to put the rest of her life into helping educate Nepalese children.
Returning to Nepal the next year, she met Allan Aistrope, then a volunteer English teacher at the country’s only orphanage(孤儿院). The two combined forces, beginning with organizing college scholarships for four of the orphans. After another five years, they had launched the Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF), which by then was supporting several hundred scholarship students and raising 60 homeless children. In 1994, the two hired Som Paneru, a former scholarship student, as executive director. Murray has taken several steps to make sure the NYF will survive after the unavoidable loss of her presence. She handed over the presidency to Paneru in 2012. Now, she is busy as usual, leading lots of fundraising campaigns.
1. How did Nepalese children impress Murray when she traveled in Nepal at 59?A.They were eager to receive education. |
B.They lived a very poor but happy life. |
C.They liked to communicate with foreigners. |
D.They were terribly interested in her memoir. |
A.She helped four orphans go to college. |
B.She started the Nepal Youth Foundation. |
C.She volunteered to act as an English teacher. |
D.She sent 60 homeless children to the orphanage. |
A.Confident and helpful. | B.Energetic and selfless. |
C.Creative and professional. | D.Kind-hearted and flexible. |
A.Exercise Regularly. | B.Change Your Jobs. |
C.Travel to Nepal. | D.Live a Purposeful Life. |
【推荐1】After a lifetime watching football with my father, a cancer diagnosis means I will have to go alone. And this is my dad’s last match.
Out of the lift, we made directly for the seats. The atmosphere was pleasant, without any final-day tension.
The only goal came just after half an hour. That, I think, was the last goal Dad ever saw, but I can’t be certain he did see it. Several times I’d glanced at Dad; on each occasion his eyes had been gazing out of the stadium.
Half-time came and went. I spent it following him in and out of the toilets, making sure he remembered his way back and meanwhile showing the way to some elders. The second half passed without goals. Dad sat in his seat, waiting for the whistle to end the match.
As soon as the last of the players had passed us, the goodbyes began all around us, the air quickly filling with the usual “see you in August” and “have a great summer”. Dad had tried to hide his tears. But by the time Frank and Dave and all the other matchday friends he’d made over the years had started to say their goodbyes, he could no longer disguise them. The tears streamed from him like I’d never seen before. But it was the noise that accompanied them which was the worst part: a long loud high cry; the cry of a child, yet coming from a man in his seventies. Awkwardly, I put an arm around his shoulders to comfort him. He cupped his hands over his face and continued to sob.
He was trembling when he stood up and reached for my hand as we headed towards the top of the steps.
This was it: the end. 25 years after he’d led me into Old Trafford stadium by the hand for my first game, here I was, leading him by his as he left for a final time. At the top of the steps, he grasped the handrail and began to descend, giving no final glance back at the field as he went.
1. Why is it the author’s father’s last match?A.Because he suffers from cancer. |
B.Because football is no longer his favorite. |
C.Because Old Trafford stadium will get closed. |
D.Because he is too old to watch the matches alone. |
A.Feel. | B.Enjoy. | C.Hide. | D.Ignore. |
A.The loud cry of a child. |
B.The unusual crying of his father. |
C.The farewell made to all the friends. |
D.The embarrassment of comforting his father. |
A.Funny. | B.Creative. | C.Generous. | D.Caring. |
【推荐2】How to Volunteer Abroad and Actually Help People
Fear of “voluntourism” shouldn’t stop you from doing something great. We’ve all heard it. Those “voluntourists” going to Africa think they’re helping, but they’re actually going for a holiday, wasting money, and strengthening dangerous stereotypes (刻板印象). I am, though, against the idea that we shouldn’t volunteer abroad at all. How would the world be a better place without people devoting their time and resources to help others who need it?
I chose my organization well. As a student, there are so many options for volunteering abroad. I travelled with Cambridge Development Initiative, a student-run project that works on sustainable development projects in Tanzania. There were four branches and I was on the business team. We were trained on the dangers of voluntourism and on best volunteer practices. We learned about the culture and even learned some basic Swahili, the local language, before travelling. When we were in Tanzania, we stayed in the same accommodation alongside our Tanzanian team members, ate the same food, and spent our free time in the same places.
When I told my friend I was travelling to Tanzania to volunteer for the summer, he said, “Oh, you’re going to have one of those summers where you go away for a couple of months and it totally changes your profile (头像) picture.”
I didn’t change my profile picture, but I did help 23 young people start their own companies. They brainstormed ideas, surveyed target communities, improved their designs, came up with business plans, and collected seed capital for their startups. They came up with creative ideas, such as a “mini-grid” (微型电网) providing electricity to an off-grid village and a plastic-waste recycling company.
Before I went to Tanzania, I was “this close” to taking an internship in a company instead because I worried I would be contributing to the negative practice of voluntourism. Here’s how I made sure that didn’t happen, and why I think the benefits of volunteering abroad far outweigh the benefits of taking some questionable moral high reasons back home.
1. What is voluntourism?A.A study in a developing country. |
B.A trip to a developing country to help out. |
C.A cultural exchange in a developing country. |
D.A traveling to a developing country to help out, but doing more harm. |
A.By not trusting any organization. |
B.By learning about the local culture and language. |
C.By providing electricity to an off-grid village. |
D.By making trade with the team members. |
A.The writer came up with ideas to solve off-grid problems. |
B.The writer helped establish young people’s own start-ups. |
C.The writer gave up a corporate internship. |
D.The writer went to Tanzania as a volunteer. |
A.The writer would have a moral high experience worth showing off. |
B.The writer was able to change the profile picture after the trip. |
C.The writer should help the locals as much as possible. |
D.The writer should volunteer because it would be life-changing. |
【推荐3】It was an early September day, cool and bright and just right for running, and I was in the first few miles of a 10.5-mile race over a course through tiring hills. Still I felt rested and springy; despite the hills, it was going to be a fine run.
Just ahead of me was Peggy Mimno, a teacher from Mount Kisco, New York. She too was running easily, moving along efficiently at my speed. The pace felt comfortable, so I decided to stay where I was: why bother concentrating on pace when she was such a nice pacesetter for me? I would overtake her later on when she tired.
So I was running closely behind her. Then the race was getting tougher. We had four miles left and already it was beginning to be real work. I was breathing hard.
Peggy overtook a young male runner. Apparently she knew him, for they exchanged a few cheerful words as she passed him. Their exchange worried me. You don’t chat during a race unless you are feeling good, and Peggy plainly was, but whatever springiness I had once possessed had left me long since.
Still, I was close enough to overtake her if she tired, so I didn’t give up hope completely. We were approaching a long, punishing hill now and it would be the test. We were a mile from the finish line, so whatever happened on the hill would almost certainly determine who crossed it first.
As I moved up the hill, working hard, my attention wandered for a few minutes. When I looked up, Peggy was moving away—first five yards, then ten, then more. Finally it was clear that there was no hope of catching her. She beat me decisively.
There is an important lesson in that race. Much of what you read about running makes a sharp distinction between the sexes. Women are assumed to be weaker, slower and not nearly as skilled athletically. Yet as Peggy Mimno so clearly demonstrated, the similarities between male and female runners are more important than the differences.
1. What did the writer think of the conditions of the race?A.Long and tough. | B.Fun and convenient. |
C.Pleasant but challenging. | D.Comfortable but disappointing. |
A.Humble. | B.Confident. |
C.Discouraged. | D.Embarrassed. |
A.Peggy came across her friend. | B.Peggy was extremely tired. |
C.Peggy ran past the writer suddenly. | D.Peggy chatted with another runner. |
A.He had prejudice against women. |
B.He didn’t know Peggy Mimno. |
C.He didn’t dare to face difficulties. |
D.He considered women skilled athletically. |