When Erika and Cody Archie posted a video to TikTok explaining how they would be charging their then-18-year-old daughter Kylee rent, the reaction was split. One commenter called it a “punishment”. Another said, “I don’t see anything wrong with it. It helps them learn responsibility.” A third added, “Hell no, that’s their home.”
The video ended up going viral, receiving over 700,000 views. Despite the mixed response, Cody is sure they’ve made the right decision. “This is our way of preparing her and making sure she knows that things aren’t free,” he tells Newsweek, “Part of becoming an adult is knowing that you have to either pay rent or you’ll have a house payment. Our hope is that by doing all this, we’re preparing her for the world.”
According to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, 58 percent of 18-to 24-year-olds are living with their parents. While staying at home has benefits for young people, such as allowing them to pay off their debts or save, having an extra person under their roof means higher costs for parents.
A recent survey conducted by Redfield Wilton Strategies for Newsweek asked 1,500 U.S. adults their thoughts on parents charging their adult children rent. Around 57 percent said that adult children moving back home should pay for the privilege, even if their parents “do not need the money”. Only 28 percent felt that adult children should live rent-free.
A study conducted by Lending Tree produced similar results. While 85 percent of parents surveyed said they’d let their adult children move home, 73 percent would charge them rent. Lending Tree found the percentage of adults between 24 and 40 living with their parents was the highest in three states: Hawaii (21.6 percent), New Jersey (20.7 percent) and Florida (20.1 percent). Hawaii and New Jersey are expensive places to live in, while Florida is more affordable. Lending Tree researchers guessed that some Florida adult children were at home to take care of aging parents.
1. What does the underlined word “split” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Violent. | B．Rapid. | C．Divided. | D．Favorable. |
| A．fit her into her future world |
| B．make the right decision for her |
| C．prepare her for a house payment |
| D．shape her into a responsible adult |
| A．Parents do not need the rent from adult children. |
| B．Adult children are at home to attend aging parents. |
| C．Adult children in Florida live with parents due to high expenses. |
| D．Many parents surveyed prefer charging their adult children rent. |
| A．Mom and Dad Turning Landlord |
| B．Getting Ready for the Real World |
| C．A TikTok Video under Discussion |
| D．Benefits of Renting Parents’ Home |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Do you prefer reading an e-book or a physical version? It might be a surprise, but for most people, old school print on paper still wins.
Publishers of books in all formats made almost $26 billion in revenue (收益) last year in the U.S., with print making up $22.6 billion and e-books taking $2.04 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers’ annual report 2018. Those figures include trade and educational books, as well as fiction.
While digital media has developed quickly, people still love to own physical books, according to Meryl Halls, managing director of the Booksellers’ Association in the U.K. “I think the e-book bubble has burst somewhat. Sales are flattening off. The physical objects are attractive.” she said.
People love to display their books, Hall added. “The book lover loves to have a record of what they have read. It’s about signaling to the rest of the world and about decorating your home, because people want to use it to indicate something about themselves.” And for Halls, there is also a desire to escape the screen. Part of the reason is that it’s harder to have an emotional relationship with what you’re reading if it’s on an e-reader.
As for the future of books, all formats will continue to be in demand, says Jacks Thomas, director of the London Book Fair. “People always need knowledge and people always need stories, so from that point of view, the book industry, in whatever format, has a strong future,” she says.
1. What do we know from the passage?| A．E-books help escape the screen. |
| B．Publishers of books like e-books. |
| C．Details are more accurate in physical books. |
| D．Print books make a bigger profit than e-books. |
| A．Cutting down. |
| B．Being controlled. |
| C．Stopping growing. |
| D．Keeping increasing. |
| A．They are a signal of the world. |
| B．They are used to build houses. |
| C．They help people record something. |
| D．They are good to strengthen a relationship. |
| A．Its future promises to be good. | B．Books won’t be needed. |
| C．No different formats coexist. | D．Digital media will replace physical books. |
【推荐2】A survey found that children would rather be YouTubers than astronauts. But it’s not surprising that young people — up to 1.3 million in the UK — want to make money by creating social media content.
The lifestyles we see advertised on social media are attractive, but is being an influencer a successful career path? Underneath the shiny surface lie pay inequality and mental health issues. Successful influencers will be the first to claim that anyone can make it in the industry. But in reality, it’s far from the truth. Social media economy expert Brooke Erin Duffy says that for most people who are trying to become an influencer, their passion will often become free work for their companies.
Influencers are also often at the mercy of algorithms (演算法) — the behind-the-scenes computer programs that determine which posts are shown, in which order, to users. Platforms share little detail about their algorithms, yet they finally determine who and what gains attention and influence online, which are most valued by the influencers.
Constant online presence finally leads to one of the most widespread issues of the influencer industry: Mental health concerns. Influencers can connect to their platform workspaces and audience at any time of day or night — for many, there is no longer a clear separation between work and life. Coupled with the fear of losing attention, this can lead to influencers’ overwork and mental health issues.
Online visibility (关注度) also places content creators at risk of significant online abuse (恶语) — not only in relation to how they look or what they do (or don’t post), but also negative viewpoint of influencing as a career. The potential of online abuse can lead to mental and physical health issues, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
Although becoming an influencer may look attractive to more and more people, the industry’s dark underside still needs to be improved through some rules and regulations in this industry.
1. What can we learn from Brooke Erin Duffy’s words?| A．To tell people of the profit of social media. |
| B．To stress that becoming an influencer is not easy. |
| C．To prove the benefits of being a successful influencer. |
| D．To show the relation between content creation and free work. |
| A．Attention and influence. | B．Social media platforms. |
| C．Detail about algorithms. | D．Computer programs. |
| A．Their career viewpoint and eating disorders. |
| B．Their clear separation between work and life. |
| C．Their fear of losing visibility and online abuse. |
| D．Their connection to platform workspaces and audience. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Hopeful. |
【推荐3】“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” But now scientists have given us another warning: too much play with smart phones or computers makes you dull too.
“Many focus on the benefits of digital devices in education but ignore the costs,” said Patricia Greenfield from the University of California, “losing the ability to understand the emotions (情感) of other people is one of the costs.”
Greenfield and her research team did an experiment. They worked with 105 children who spent about 4.5 hours in front of screens on a school day. The students were asked to describe the emotions towards the pictures and videos of people who were happy, sad, angry or scared. Then, half of them attended a five-day nature and science camp. There they had no smart phones, TV or computers. The other half stayed in school and spent the five days as usual. Five days later, all the children took the test again.
Students who had been to the camp got about 5 percent more answers correct than they had done before the camp. But the other group of students didn’t show much improvement.
“The study is not perfect in some sense.” said the researchers. But scientists say that the study is still a warning for us. “Emotional skills develop in practice and the brain develops through real communication.” said Professor Taylor, a professor at the university of San Francisco.
Researchers talked to 2,000 parents of children aged 2-16 in the UK about what activities their children could do confidently. The results were surprising. Their children could use a tablet (平板电脑)(59%) and work a mobile phone (57%) more confidently than they could tie their shoe laces (鞋带)(53%)!
So, spend more time away from mobile phones and computers if you want to be an understanding friend, and not a member of what the Daily Mail called “Generation Helpless”.
1. What may using digital devices in education lead to according to Professor Greenfield?| A．Failing to get along well with teachers. |
| B．Failing to understand others’ emotions. |
| C．Making more mistakes when taking exams. |
| D．Failing in all schoolwork. |
| A．Change. | B．Prepare. |
| C．Forgive. | D．Overlook. |
| A．Most of the children couldn’t tie their shoe laces in the UK . |
| B．Students learned how to describe emotions in the experiment. |
| C．Too much play with digital devices raised some worries. |
| D．Students living without screens did much better in studies. |
| A．To show screens harm emotions. |
| B．To introduce a digital world. |
| C．To help us to stay away from the Internet. |
| D．To tell us how people become addicted. |
【推荐1】Sara Dykman is on a 10,000-mile bike trip, following the monarch butterfly from Mexico through the United States and Canada and back again. The purpose of her journey is not just to mark the butterfly’s migrating (迁徙) road, but to warn about the threat it faces — and what we can do to help it.
When I reached Dykman by phone, she was biking through Iowa cornfields. She said she feels more upset than usual, because of what she is seeing — or not seeing — on her travels: Fewer butterflies and milkweed. “In the last two decades, the butterfly population has declined by about 90 percent as a result of the loss of milkweed, a native plant that the butterflies need as part of their life cycle,” she said.
Butterflies go through a four-stage life cycle. In February and March, the adult monarch butterflies come out of winter sleep to look for a mate. Then they migrate north and east to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. It takes about four days for the eggs to hatch. Then the baby caterpillars (毛毛虫) spend much of their time eating milkweed in order to grow. About two weeks later, the fully grown caterpillars will attach themselves to plant branches or leaves to change into butterflies.
But Dykman is not in total despair. A solution, she says, exists within the reach of everyone who owns a home; simply planting some milkweed in the yards to help the butterflies on their journey.
Dykman lives a life as simple and rootless as the butterflies she loves. She doesn’t own a house or car or eat out at restaurants. She carries only what she needs; a sleeping bag and clothing. People help along the way by providing a place to stay and a meal.
“I have failed at everything normal, but I’m pretty good at doing the less normal things,” she admits in her new book Cycling With Butterflies.
“But this trip is about solutions, and it’s about helping people see the consequences of their actions,” she said on the phone.
1. What is the main purpose of Sara Dykman’s bike trip?| A．To live-stream the migrating butterflies. | B．To ask people to grow more native plants. |
| C．To warn about the environmental problems. | D．To encourage people to protect the butterflies. |
| A．Baby caterpillars are very harmful to various crops. |
| B．Milkweed plays a vital role in a butterfly’s life cycle. |
| C．Non-native plants are growing too fast in Iowa cornfields. |
| D．Adult butterflies come out of winter sleep later than they did. |
| A．She is a determined conservationist. | B．She is a good bread-earner. |
| C．She is a competent employee. | D．She is a comfort seeker. |
| A．A diary entry. | B．A book review. | C．An interview. | D．A news report. |
【推荐2】This is Ella Stevens who, at just 13 years old, is fighting for a chance to drive for the most famous team in Formula One-Ferrari(法拉利一级方程式赛车).
This fall Stevens faces a series of challenges, on and off track at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, with the ultimate prize a place on the famous Ferrari Driver Academy as its first female racer. “It’s a very good opportunity for me,” Ella, already a British karting champion, tells CNN. “We have to do a few fitness tests in the first phase so that they can see our driving.”
The Academy is, in fact, a breeding ground for future racing stars. Its current crop includes Mick Schumacher, the son of legendary Ferrari driver Michael, Enzo Fittipaldi, whose grandfather Emerson was a double F1 world champion, as well as Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother of Ferrari’s current FI racer Charles.
On the face of it, it’s no place for a 13-year-old girl from a small village in England—who already has a mountain to climb as a female in a sport still dominated by males. After all, a female has not raced in Fl for more than 40 years, and just six women have taken part in a grand prix(大奖赛)weekend.
But Stevens is being supported by a popular figure in the F1 community, Rob Smediey. He worked as a Ferrari engineer for more than a decade and is now teaching Stevens through his own Electroheads Talent Academy.
Smediey describes Ferrari’s search for a potential female racer as a “huge step”. “Having a major player in the sport, with such a rich history as Ferrari, leading on this has to be applauded”, he tells CNN. “It’s absolutely amazing that they want to do this and they’re taking positive action to increase the gender diversity within the sport.”
1. What will Ella win after fighting off a series of challenges?| A．She’ll become a karting champion. |
| B．She’ll have to pass a few fitness tests. |
| C．She’ll drive for Formula One-Ferrari. |
| D．She’ll become the first female racing champion. |
| A．To make people believe he’s a famous racer. |
| B．To show how he became a F1 world champion. |
| C．To introduce that he was once a double FI world champion. |
| D．To prove Ferrari Driver Academy is home to the promising racers. |
| A．won | B．placed | C．ruled | D．grasped |
| A．Ella Stevens: the first female racer |
| B．Ella Stevens: a promising racing star |
| C．Formula One-Ferrari: the world top race |
| D．Formula One-Ferrari: a race without female |
【推荐3】Every year, workers put up a big, freshly cut evergreen tree (常青树) in a historic building in Asbury Park, New Jersey to celebrate Christmas. But recently workers put up a very different kind of Christmas Tree instead.
Unlike an evergreen, it requires little care and can never die. That is because the 2021 Christmas Tree is made entirely of a thick and strong paper material called cardboard. When the winter holidays end, the “tree” is to be recycled. The piece uses natural and artificial lighting to darken parts of the tree while shining light on others. In this way, the piece’s appearance changes throughout the day. The tree’s creators sought to honor elements of Asbury Park’s natural environment, cityscape (城市风光) and rich musical history.
Opinions on the tree differ enormously. “I like that it’s different…It’s pretty interesting,” said local man Chris Trifari. Local Elizabeth Khimitch offered similar praise. “I think it’s very creative.” She had come to the Grand Arcade to take pictures of her dogs in front of the tree. Others on the boardwalk were not as pleased by the tree. Antony Solimando said it looked like “an Amazon package.” “Can’t we just have our traditional tree?” added Amy Mackey.
Michael Lavallee, a local artist who goes by the name Porkchop, created the piece with Brad Hoffer. They call it The Giving Tree. He said the company told him there would not be a natural Christmas tree at Convention Hall this year. “I was asked to come in and do something festive-ish, especially in connection with a holiday.” said Porkchop.
Amy Quinn is Asbury Park’s deputy mayor (副市长). Quinn said the city doesn’t intervene in the Convention Hall decisions, but that she likes the piece. She said, “I love that it’s different. Love it or hate it, people are talking about it.”
1. According to the text, which one is NOT the characteristic of the paper Christmas tree?| A．It needs less care. | B．It can be reused next year. |
| C．It can change throughout the day. | D．It can be recycled. |
| A．They are both environmentalists. |
| B．They thought the paper Christmas tree was something much more impressive. |
| C．They wanted to show respect to Asbury Park’s natural landscape. |
| D．They wanted to create a totally different Christmas for the local people. |
| A．Dramatic. | B．Superb. |
| C．Numerous. | D．Celebratory. |
| A．A food magazine. | B．A travel guide. |
| C．A local newspaper. | D．A Science report. |
【推荐1】Liu Yexi has taken Douyin by storm. As of Nov 17, the virtual idol, who performed on the social media platform on Oct 31, had only released two short videos but attracted over 5 million followers.
Different from other virtual idols, Liu is defined as a “virtual beauty vlogger”. In her first video, Liu is doing makeup with an eye brush while dressed in a traditional Chinese costume.
When she turns around, the onlookers are terrified, except one boy. Then Liu slightly brushes the boy’s eyes, allowing him to see the fantasy world in her own eyes. The internet users marveled(使...惊叹) at its storyline, science-fiction elements and special visual effects with cyberpunk style. Liang Zikang, the CEO of the production team, told China Newsweek that the team spent two months making the video.
Liu’s instant popularity online further reflects that the virtual idol industry in China has been booming. There are over 32,400 virtual idols that have opened accounts on video-sharing platform Bilibili in the past year, seeing a year-on-year rise of 40 percent, Chen Rui, the CEO of Bilibili, said in a speech.
“Compared with real idols and stars, the virtual ones seem to be more approachable for fans,” Shine News noted. Additionally, these virtual web celebrities(名人) won’t have scandals(丑闻).
As more young people are fascinated by these virtual figures, their commercial(商业的) value has been on the rise. Generally, they earn money by online concerts, livestreaming and related products. For example, Luo Tianyi, a well-known virtual singer, cooperated with livestreamer Li Jiaqi to promote goods in 2020.
Therefore, some people are wondering whether they will replace real humans. “These socalled virtual idols have real human teams to back them up and control them. They are not really virtual.” Ding Daoshi, an independent analyst in the internet sector, told the Global Times. The real virtual idol will come when artificial intelligence achieves a new level of selflearning and self-training and then interacts with others, he added.
1. What do we know about Liu Yexi?| A．She becomes an online celebrity. | B．She creates a virtual fantasy world. |
| C．Her song becomes famous overnight. | D．Her costume wins her great popularity. |
| A．Beginning. | B．Arriving. | C．Growing. | D．Falling. |
| A．Their various styles. | B．Their friendly character. |
| C．Their commercial value. | D．Their wonderful performance. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Favorable. | D．Indifferent. |
【推荐2】These days, short videos have got millions of views online. Many people create short videos on popular video apps like Douyin and Kuaishou. You can even add music and special effects to your videos. The videos are 15 seconds to a few minutes long. They show people doing activities like cooking, exercising and singing.
Teenagers especially enjoy these videos. More than 50 percent of students in Grade 10 and Grade 11 said they enjoyed watching these short videos. About 47 percent have posted their own videos, according to a recent report.
The videos let teenagers see funny and exciting things they wouldn’t usually see. Many teenagers like to share the funny things they do with others as well. For example, a 12-year-old user named Xiao Qianyu has posted videos showing her learning jazz dance. This has won her many fans.
However, the videos can also cause trouble. Some students spend too much time watching them and not enough time studying. Some videos have vulgar content that is not good for teenagers.
To deal with this problem, Douyin added a new function (功能) in April, 2018. It locks the app if someone uses the app for over two hours a day. In the same month, the government asked companies to control these apps well and get rid of bad videos.
1. What can people add to their short videos with these apps?| A．Music and special effects. | B．Douyin and Kuaishou. |
| C．Jazz dance. | D．Locking the app. |
| A．The app will be locked for over two hours. |
| B．They will not spend enough time studying. |
| C．Some vulgar videos will be shown to them. |
| D．They will win a lot of fans for themselves. |
| A．kind | B．funny | C．wonderful | D．harmful |
| A．the apps have been monitored (监管) much more strictly. |
| B．more and more teenagers enjoy sharing their short videos. |
| C．teenagers can add all kinds of special effects to their videos. |
| D．There will be no vulgar content in these short videos at all. |
【推荐3】Foxes with nine tails, flying dragons that can spit fireballs and creatures with human-heads and snake-bodies. Many magical creatures are recorded in Chinese legends and myths. Now a group of young Chinese people has brought them to life.
Called “jialegeling”, the group is made up of three founding members—Zhang Jialing, Zhu Ying and Bao Kai. They personify the mythical figures from The Classic of Mountains ad Seas（《山海经》）with costume makeup and location shooting.
Recalling the origin of the idea, they spoke of their experience using social media six years ago. They found that cultural products from Japan, the US and Republic of Korea were popular among users. However, Chinese legends were unfamiliar to most of them.
To faithfully show the creatures in the legends, they learned special effects makeup and created props (道具) by themselves.
It takes Zhang at least four hours to apply makeup and get in the costume for each character, Zhu says. The team members often get up in the early hours so they can shoot during the day. Despite the lack of funding, the group insisted on shooting on location because the ancient texts had records of the natural features of the areas where the creatures emerged.
That means their journey could not sail smoothly. With some topography (地貌) having disappeared over the past thousands of years, they needed to find areas with similar natural features. Even though some places could be easily found, they still faced difficulties. Once when filming in a desert, Zhang became severely sunburned, resulting in her skin peeling. Another video with underwater scenes required Zhang to dive dozens of times and Bao to film in the water the entire time.
“Fortunately, our efforts seem to have been seen by people. Many of our viewers are even calling us ‘ancient culture inheritors’. When we set out on this journey, this is exactly what we hoped would come.”
1. Why does the author mention many magical creatures in the first paragraph?| A．To make comparison. | B．To provide examples. |
| C．To support an argument | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．They were much impressed with Chinese legends and myth. |
| B．They were experienced in personifying the mythical figures. |
| C．They found it easier to profit from shooting culture-themed videos. |
| D．They intended to display ancient Chinese culture’s charm to the public. |
| A．They suffer from a great lack of sleep. |
| B．A shortage of fund sets them a barrier. |
| C．They have trouble finding suitable places. |
| D．Making up and getting dressed are time-consuming. |
| A．Creative and committed. | B．Determined and careful. |
| C．Confident and grateful. | D．Passionate and curious. |
