Before the age of the smartphone, not everyone had cameras and it took skills and a good eye to capture and create a great photograph. Today, with the huge range of camera apps on our smartphones, we’re all amateur photographers, and pretty good ones at that, since the quality of smartphone images now nearly equals that of digital cameras.
The new ease of photography has given us a tremendous appetite for capturing the magical and the ordinary.We are obsessed with documenting everyday moments, whether it’s a shot of our breakfast, our cat—or the cat’s breakfast.
Cameras are everywhere-- a situation that is transforming the way we experience dramatic events. With cameras observing most urban centers, have we gotten to the point where cameras don’t need photographers and photographers don’t even need cameras? When there are political events or natural disasters, it is ordinary citizens with cell phones--not photojournalists—who often provide the first news images. Quality still matters,but it’s less important than what’s relevant and instantly shared.
Before digital images, most people trusted photographs to accurately reflect reality. Yet photography has always more stories than we assume. Each picture is a result of a series of decisions—where to stand, what lens to use, what to leave in and out of the frame. Images can also be colored, brightened, faded, and scratched to make photographs more artistic, or to give them an antique look. Such images may be more useful in communicating how the people behind the camera felt than in documenting what was actually in front of the camera.
It’s not clear whether this flowering of image making will lead to a public that better appreciates and understands images or simply numb us to the deep effects a well-made image can have. But the change is unavoidable. Perhaps we are witnessing the development of a universal visual language, one that could change the way we relate to each other and the world. Of course, as with any language, there will be those who produce poetry and those who make shopping lists.
1. What makes us all amateur photographers?| A．That it takes no skills to take photographs. |
| B．That cell phones provide great convenience. |
| C．That we are more attracted to creating images. |
| D．That professional standards appear to be falling. |
| A．Photographers don’t need a camera at all. |
| B．We may get the latest images more easily. |
| C．Natural disasters can be detected in advance. |
| D．People pay more attention to the quality of photos. |
| A．The creative functions of camera apps. |
| B．The attractive features of digital images. |
| C．The subjective factors behind photographs. |
| D．The negative reviews about artistic images. |
| A．It can be both used in writing poetry and shopping. |
| B．It will contribute to our ability to appreciate images. |
| C．It has a great influence on the development of the universe. |
| D．It offers us a new tool of communication to express ourselves. |
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The rise of mobile phones has been blamed for a number of social ills, but your smart phone may also be making you physically sick as well. Scientists have identified a condition called “cybersickness”, which they say is the digital version of motion sickness. The phenomenon, which affects up to 80 percent of the population who own smart phones or tablets, leads to feelings of sickness and unsteadiness. It is caused by seeing fast motion on a screen, which covers anything from a car chase in a film to scrolling through web pages on your phone.
The more realistic the visual content appears to you, the higher your chances of getting cybersickness are . The condition was identified in a piece in the New York Times in which British and US experts said that it needed solving. Motion sickness leaves sufferers feeling ill because they feel movement in your muscles and your inner ear but do not see it. The mismatch in digital sickness is the opposite—you see movement on the screen but do not feel it. The effect is the same and the symptoms include a headache, wanting to throw up, confusion and the need to sit down. Often cybersickness shows itself in a subtle way and sufferers put it down to stress or eyestrain.
Steven Rauch, a professor of otolaryngology（耳鼻喉科学） at Harvard Medical School, said: “Your sense of balance is different from other senses in that it has lots of inputs. When those inputs don’t agree, that’s when you feel dizziness and sickness. ”
Some studies that have been carried out into cybersickness found that women are more susceptible than men, the New York Times reported. Those who have Type A’ personalities—meaning they are confident and determined—are more likely to suffer from cybersickness as well. Among those who have reported experiencing the condition have been video gamers who spend hours playing fast paced games. Engineers at Oculus VR, the virtual headset manufacturer, have admitted that digital motion sickness is one of their biggest problems.
1. From the text, we know that cybersickness ______.
| A．is completely equal to motion sickness |
| B．affects up to 80% of the population. |
| C．leads to people’s feelings of sickness and unsteadiness |
| D．is caused by seeing fast moving objects around |
| A．Digital sickness means sufferers see movement but do not feel it. |
| B．Digital sickness means sufferers feel movement but do not see it. |
| C．Motion sickness means sufferers see movement but do not feel it. |
| D．Motion sickness means sufferers don’t see or feel movement |
| A．likely to accept | B．likely to be affected |
| C．likely to suspect | D．likely to be cured |
| A．a science fiction | B．a newspaper ad |
| C．a book review | D．a science news report |
【推荐2】Ask ChatGPT to write a five-paragraph essay on the symbolism of “The Great Gatsby” and it will produce a response within seconds. Plug in an algebra equation (代数方程式) and it can solve it almost instantly and even explain its process.
That’s not all. The capabilities of the artificial intelligence chatbot tool, launched in November 2022 by San Francisco-based startup OpenAI are vast. It can fix spelling and grammar errors, give feedback on writing, write poems and songs, create lesson plans for teachers and much more. It does it all in human-sounding text and with high efficiency.
But its presence has received mixed responses. Due to the probability for plagiarism and cheating, New York City Public Schools, the largest school district in the U.S., announced in early January 2023 that it was banning ChatGPT across all district devices and networks. Educators are concerned the application will fundamentally change how writing is taught and will impact students’ abilities to craft ideas on their own.
Some, on the contrary, say they are excited about its potential to advance learning for some students and become a valuable tool in education. Those teachers are envisioning ways to adapt their teaching to incorporate it in their lessons. Kelly Gibson, an English teacher in rural Oregon, is having her students analyze essays written by ChatGPT and find ways that they can be improved.
“It’s definitely scary. I understand the desire to panic.” says Torrey Trust, associate professor of learning technology at the University of Massachusetts. “Teachers and students should see ChatGPT as a helpful tool, much like a calculator might be in math class, but it cannot do a teacher’s job. It’s there to help teachers reach their learning aims. Whether it’s ChatGPT or another technology down the road, AI isn’t going away and, if anything, is likely to be more of a part of classrooms.”
1. What does the author most likely to tell in the first paragraph?| A．The tool is quick off the mark. |
| B．The tool is smarter than people. |
| C．The tool stores amounts of information. |
| D．The tool excels at writing and calculating. |
| A．Because of the quick calculation of the monthly cost. |
| B．Because of the probability of the cheating in the study. |
| C．Because of the application of changing the writing habits. |
| D．Because of the complicated responses of its present usage. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Indifferent. | C．Objective. | D．Sensitive. |
| A．Almighty chatGPT. | B．Powerful OpenAI. |
| C．Confusing OpenAL | D．Controversial ChatGPT. |
Junior Alvarado, a high school student in the Washington Leadership Academy, often struggled in his math classes and earned poor grades. The teachers at the Washington Leadership Academy used computer programs to identify the areas he was weak in and design a learning plan just for him.
“They explain the problem step by step. It wouldn’t be as fast, but at your speed,” said the 15—year—old, “Now I feel better about my math skills.”
The use of technology in schools is part of a larger idea of personalized learning. This idea has been gaining in popularity in recent years. Personalized learning is away of teaching centering around the interests and needs of individual students instead of entire classes as a whole. It includes flexible learning environments and specially—designed education plans. Students can decide what and how they learn. In that way, they are able to master subjects at their own speed.
Joseph Webb, headmaster of the Washington Leadership Academy, says the digital tools help teachers identify problems students are facing before they become too serious. “We can solve them right then and there; we don’t have to wait for the problems to come to us,” he said.
Still, many researchers say it is too early to tell if personalized learning works better than traditional teaching. A recent study found that personalized learning only led to small improvements. It found only a 3—percent improvement in math and even smaller improvements in reading compared to traditional teaching methods. In addition, experts in children’s health warn that the overuse of technology can damage face—to—face relationships and young people’s interest in physical activity.
Some teachers have their doubts as well. Marla Kilfoyle, a teacher in a public high school, admits that technology can be helpful in the classroom in many ways. But she argues that no computer program should ever replace the personal touch, support and inspiration teachers give their students.
1. How did teachers help Junior Alvarado to improve his math grades? (no more than 15 words)2. According to the passage，what is personalized learning? (no more than 13 words)
3. What does the underlined word “they” in paragraph 4 refer to? (no more than 1 word)
4. Why do Marla Kilfoyle believe computer programs will never replace teachers? (no more than 10 words)
【推荐1】While many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer, few would say that we’ve “summered.” “Summer” is clearly a noun, more precisely, a verbed noun.
Way back in our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a tidy definition, it was easy to spot the difference. Not so in adulthood, where we are expected to “foot” bills, “chair” committees, and “dialogue” with political opponents. Chances are that you didn’t feel uncomfortable about the sight of those verbed nouns.
“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia O’Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts estimate that 20 percent of all English verbs were originally nouns. And the phenomenon seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40 percent of all new verbs have come from nouns.
Even though conversion (转化) is quite universal, plenty of grammarians object to the practice. Some most leading experts, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, in The Elements of Style—the Bible for the use of American English—have this to say: “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are questionable.” The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar standpoint, advising writers to use verbs with great care.
“Sometimes people object to a new verb because they resist what is unfamiliar to them,” says O’Conner. That’s why we’re comfortable “hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules for verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about “verbifying” a noun if it’s easily replaceable by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.
In the end, however, style is subjective. Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English “English”. Not every coined word passes into general use, but as for trying to end verbing altogether, forget it.
1. What can we learn about the verbing of nouns?| A．It hasn’t recently been opposed by many grammarians. |
| B．It is more commonly accepted by children than adults. |
| C．It hasn’t been a rare phenomenon in the past century. |
| D．It can be easily replaced by existing verbs in practice. |
| A．Cautious | B．Objective. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Practicable. |
| C．Approaching. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Are 40 Percent of all new verbs from nouns? |
| B．Are Summering and Medaling Annoying? |
| C．Are You Comfortable about a New Verb? |
| D．Are There Any Rules for Verbing? |
【推荐2】A principal in Manhattan informed parents that there would be no more homework for the public school’s students. And then came the arguments — not from teachers, but from parents. Some said they would transfer their children to another school. Some said they were finding online sources of homework for their children. They were not convinced of the explanation from Principal Jane Hsu about the negative effects of homework on young children, including lack of time for other activities and family time, and loss of interest in learning. Hsu suggested children should spend their time on activities that had been found to be good for their academic, social and emotional development.
As a supporter of Hsu’s approach, I wonder how many of the parental arguments occur not because of what children will miss out on, but because parents themselves no longer feel confident about their ability to help their children develop without highly structured activities to guide them.
I’m reminded of a meeting at the school my younger daughter was about to start when she was 6. The head of the school met with parents to say that she was also considering doing away with homework. One mom objected because homework was her “special time” each day with her child when they could sit down together to go through the work. The head of the school appeared surprised at this. She gently suggested that the mother should read to her child, or that they should cook dinner together.
It’s been sad already to see that kids, between their structured soccer practices and their homework, have very little time to play. But it’s even sadder to see the parental nervousness about what might happen to a third-grader who has more time to create, think, read, interact with others, or imagine. What might happen, I believe, must be more happiness, more energy and better physical fitness.
1. From Paragraph 1, we know .| A．teachers are strongly opposed to giving no homework to their students |
| B．the idea of no homework has led to a heated debate |
| C．children greatly benefit from the idea of no homework |
| D．other activities have taken the place of the homework |
| A．Her child might lose interest in learning. |
| B．Her child might have less time to think. |
| C．She enjoyed the time doing homework with her child. |
| D．Homework is good for children’s academic development. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Positive. |
| C．Negative. | D．Critical. |
| A．whether the parents should transfer their children to public school |
| B．the benefits of doing homework |
| C．the necessity of changing the education system |
| D．whether the students should do homework after school |
【推荐3】“Depend on yourself” is what nature says to every man. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.
There have been many great men in history. But many of them were very poor when they were young, and had no uncles, aunts or friends to help them. Schools were few and not very good.
They could not depend upon them for education. They saw how it was, and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way till they became well-known. One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils. “I cannot make worthy men of you, but I can help make men of yourselves.”
Some young men do not try their best to make themselves valuable to society. They can never gain achievements unless they see their weak points and keep improving themselves. They are nothing now and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of their parents and teachers, and depend on their own efforts.
1. Which of the following titles fits this passage best?| A．How to Become Famous |
| B．What Helps to Make a Good Teacher |
| C．Men Must Help Each Other |
| D．Depend on Your Own Efforts |
| A．they were anxious to become rich |
| B．they had received good education |
| C．they had made great efforts to learn and work |
| D．they wanted very much to become well-known |
| A．they are more likely to succeed in their lives |
| B．they are sure to be famous in the world |
| C．they will need no advice from their parents and teachers |
| D．they will be nothing as long as they live |
| A．is a man with a strong will |
| B．shows great respect for teachers |
| C．is in favour of those who struggle for success |
| D．feels it important to accept the advice of others |
