As Tiger King 2 appeals to viewers, some fans feel sad about having to pay much for another streaming service subscription. And they take pity on the once-hot video technology which is now more likely to be a temporary coaster (杯垫) for your coffee: DVDs were once the future, but now the industry can hardly be turned around.
DVD sales once reached $16.3 billion and were 64% of the U.S. home video market. That was 2005.
However, this year just 300 million DVDs are expected to be sold worldwide, down from an average of 2 billion every year between 2005 and 2009. Instead, a rise in customers buying on-demand and digital copies of films and the launch of streaming services are what have reduced the DVD industry to such a state.
But there are still 300 million of the things, even if your collection is gathering dust on the bookshelf. While pop psychology would suggest that older generations hold on to their love of the physical disc, instead, those aged 25 to 39 are more likely than most to watch DVDs. They’re often collectors.
“DVDs are a sign of our identity and our personality,” says Tony Gunnarsson, an analyst of TV, video, and advertising. That’s why England-based radio producer Tom Green still stores around 300 DVDs, including the whole seasons of The Simpsons. They represent a part of my life, and a part of me,” Green says. Others continue to keep DVDs because of the excellent audio (声音的) quality.
For DVDs, to undergo a renaissance (复兴) similar to that experienced by cassette tapes will require a big shift. “We need to wait for the generation that have a fascination with DVDs to control the mainstream culture, but it seems to be nowhere in sight,” says Tom Green. “And the public see DVDs as nothing but outdated media.” Even so, there is a solid group of DVD consumers. And that’s perhaps why producers keep making DVDs and why committed collectors collect their discs.
1. What does the author intend to stress in Paragraph 1?| A．The fall of DVDs. |
| B．A possible way of reusing DVDs. |
| C．A recent trend in the film industry. |
| D．The big expenses of video streaming services. |
| A．It celebrated a shift in digital copies of films. |
| B．It suffered from an oversupply of DVDs. |
| C．It entered 64% of the U. S. households. |
| D．Its sales reached the peak. |
| A．They both appreciate the charm of DVDs. |
| B．They are both professional DVD advertisers. |
| C．They are both passionate about collecting things. |
| D．They both praise the audio quality of streaming services. |
| A．They may control the mainstream culture. |
| B．They can greatly benefit many collectors. |
| C．They are as important as cassette tapes. |
| D．They are hard to make a comeback. |
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【推荐1】When you were at school, the last thing you probably wanted to do was to spend your weekends going to work. There was homework to do, sports to play and fun to have. But our parents probably persuaded us to find a job to earn some money and get some life experience. When I was a teenager I delivered newspapers to people’s homes. I then progressed to a Saturday job in a supermarket: stacking shelves and working at the checkout.
Today in the UK you are allowed to work from the age of 13, and many children do take up part-time jobs. It’s one of those things that are seen almost as a rite of passage(成人仪式). It’s a taste of independence and sometimes a useful thing to put on your CV(简历). Teenagers agree that it teaches valuable lessons about working with adults and also about managing their money.
Some research has shown that not taking up a Saturday or holiday job could be deleterious to a person later on. A 2015 study by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills found that not participating in part-time work at school age had been blamed by employer’s organizations for young adults being ill-prepared for full-time employment, but despite this, recent statistics have shown that the number of schoolchildren in the UK with a part-time job has fallen by a fifth in the past five years.
So, does this mean that British teenagers are now afraid of hard work? Probably not. Some experts feel that young people feel going out to work will affect their performance at school, and they are under more pressure now to study hard and get good exam results and a good job in the long term. However, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News that “Properly regulated part-time work is a good way of helping young people learn skills that they will need in their working lives.” In reality, it’s all about getting the right balance between doing part-time work and having enough time to study and rest.
1. How did the author feel about doing part-time jobs on weekends when he was a teenager?| A．Delighted. | B．Interested. | C．Unwilling. | D．Angry. |
| A．Learning to be independent. | B．Gaining some life experience. |
| C．Being prepared for future jobs. | D．Spending what they earn as they like. |
| A．Valuable. | B．Harmful. | C．Necessary. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Students should spend all their time on studies. |
| B．Students should have as many part-time jobs as possible. |
| C．Doing part-time jobs must affect students’ school results. |
| D．It’s important for students to balance part-time jobs and studies. |
【推荐2】After graduating from college, Tan Minyan decided to become a cemetery custodian (守墓人).
“With four colleagues, I don’t need to worry about any complicated relationships,” the 22-year-old girl shared on her Sina Weibo. “Moreover, my office, dormitory (宿舍) and canteen are in the same building, the pace of work is slow and I almost feel as if I have retired early.” Her decision has caused heated discussion on social media in November about how young people nowadays can deal with social anxiety and benefit from genuine interpersonal relationships.
According to the survey by China Youth Daily, more than 80 percent of the nearly 5,000 college students questioned said they bad mild social anxiety disorder. The disorder surfaces most frequently when speaking in front of large groups, communicating with strangers and asking for favors.
Cheng Qiang, who works for a media group in Beijing, is one of them. The 29-year-old young man told China Daily he started having social anxiety disorder in middle school. To avoid contact with coworkers, Cheng often wore a mask even when going to the toilet or kitchen so he would encounter fewer people.
“The disorder becomes more severe when I am around people who know me but are not close,” he told China Daily. “Their attention makes me nervous, and I don’t know how to respond.”
Wang Wenda, a psychology lecturer, found that most of the people who suffer from social anxiety are introverted (内向的), la ck confidence or social skills, or have suffered traumatic (生成创伤的) interpersonal relationships. Wang also believes that the disorder is not trivial. It may lead to panic attacks and other psychological problems as a result of a lack of contact with other people.
According to China Daily, Wang’s suggested solution was as follows: People with social anxiety disorder should go out and expose themselves to more social gatherings and practice their social skills, adding that through greater social experience and small successes in social encounters, they will reap the benefits of having a real social life and come to enjoy positive interpersonal relations.
1. Why is Tan Minyan’s experience mentioned at the beginning of the text?| A．To suggest an alternative career path. |
| B．To lead up to the topic of social anxiety. |
| C．To illustrate what young people value in their work. |
| D．To present people’s attitudes toward her profession. |
| A．They are unwilling to help others. | B．They find it hard to do everyday tasks. |
| C．They feel uneasy when asking for favors. | D．They always feel curious in public places. |
| A．Urgent. | B．Influential. | C．Unimportant. | D．Complicated. |
| A．Join a social anxiety support group. | B．Go outside to relax themselves. |
| C．Seek help from a professional. | D．Engage in more social activities. |
| A．Tan Minyan feels as if she has retired early. |
| B．More than 4,000 college students questioned had mild social anxiety disorder. |
| C．People with the social anxiety disorder could speak confidently in front of large groups. |
| D．Most of the people with social anxiety disorder are introverted. |
【推荐3】Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experiences of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers... Nearly 40％of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll (民意调查) said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future.
Such an encouraging result is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking out visual artists to help them to communicate their work to new audiences. “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning,” one respondent said.
One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the senses came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.They reimagined the 300-year-old score (乐谱总谱) by integrating the latest climate prediction data for each season — provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK.
But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street.Fewer artists than scientists responded to the Nature poll. However, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements; nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result powerful art.
More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. The founders deliberately focused their projects around light — hence the ”visual studies“ in the name. Light was something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the center was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa.
Nature’s poll findings suggest that this trend is as strong as ever,but to make a collaboration work,both sides need to invest time and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science collaborations needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention; challenge and critique are essential to both, too.
1. According to Paragraph 1, art-science collaborations have __________ .| A．caught the attention of critics |
| B．received favorable responses |
| C．promoted academic publishing |
| D．sparked heated public disputes |
| A．art can offer audiences easy access to science |
| B．science can help with the expression of emotions |
| C．art is effective in facilitating scientific innovations |
| D．public participation in science has a promising future |
| A．their role may be underestimated |
| B．their reputation may be damaged |
| C．their creativity may be restricted |
| D．their work may misguided |
| A．Its projects aimed at advancing visual studies. |
| B．Its founders sought to raise the status of artists. |
| C．It demonstrates valuable art-science cooperation. |
| D．It was headed alternately by artists and scientists. |
【推荐1】China is known for its long history, rich culture, and cute pandas. It’s also known for some of the worst air quality in the world. But the Asian country is now using a natural weapon against air pollution — trees.
In February, China’s government announced plans to cover at least 32,400 square miles with forest. That is about the size of Ireland. Some 60,000 soldiers will take charge of the tree-planting program. Most of the trees will be planted in Hebei Province. That is an area surrounding China’s capital, Beijing.
Huang Wei is an environmentalist who works for Greenpeace East Asia. She is optimistic about the plan. “Trees act as a sink to absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants,” she said. Carbon dioxide is a gas that traps the Earth’s heat. It contributes to global warming.
Why is China’s air filled with harmful chemicals? It’s because the country relies on coal-fired power plants. When coal is burned, PM2.5 is produced. PM2.5 is a pollutant. It can cause shortness of breath, heart attacks, and even death.
Just two years ago, pollution levels were so high in Beijing that schools and factories had to close. Huang hopes China’s tree-planting plan will reduce the nation’s suffering from air pollution.
The Chinese government is getting help from others in its drive to make the nation greener. Stefano Boeri is an Italian architect and urban planner. He is leading an effort to plant vertical (垂直的) forests in China.
Boeri’s designs have already taken root in the city of Nanjing, China. That’s where the Nan-jing Green Towers are under construction. The building has two towers. Thousands of trees and hanging plants will grow on the balconies and rooftops.
Boeri says his goal is to design buildings that help the environment and improve air quality. He also hopes to encourage a new generation of green architects.
1. What measure is China taking to improve the air quality according to the passage?| A．Planting more tress. |
| B．Closing the electricity factories. |
| C．Forbidding people to burn coal. |
| D．Designing new buildings. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uncertain. |
| C．Promising. | D．Ineffective. |
| A．Adapts to. | B．Results in. |
| C．Refers to. | D．Concentrates on. |
| A．Because his design can keep the polluted air outside the house. |
| B．Because his buildings are built in forest. |
| C．Because his design is special with two towers. |
| D．Because his design is environmentally friendly. |
【推荐2】Becoming a parent brings out the best in many animals. Although parenting is usually left to the females, males from many species go above and beyond to care for the offspring. Take anemone fish (海葵鱼) for example. In finding Nemo, Marlin swims over 1,000 miles from the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney to rescue his son Nemo, who has been caught by divers. In reality, anemone fish rarely move so far away from their home.
Despite their smaller size, the males help the females defend the nest, but only the male anemone fish take care of it. They use their fins as fans to provide a constant flow of oxygen and keep the surroundings clean. They also put a lot of effort in building the nest.
The eggs take about five days to hatch. During this important period, dads fan them to provide oxygen and remove the rubbish. They also pick up the eggs in their mouths and move them around to remove any bacteria. One of the biggest threats comes from female sticklebacks (刺鱼), who form organized groups and attack the nests to eat all the eggs.
Males defend the newborn fish and bring back the ones who move too far from the nest. Once the fish grow up, they become a little bit more independent and start to swim away. The dad swims after them, picks them up in his mouth, and spits them back into his nest. Eventually, he gets to the point where he can’t keep track of them and that’s when they separate.
Doting (溺爱的) fathers are not restricted to the world of fish. In some poison frog species, the dads also warn the moms when the young ones are hungry and need to be fed. It’s generally believed that moms are the caregivers. In fish and frogs, it’s actually more common for the dads to provide care.
1. What does the underlined word “offspring” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Children. | B．Relatives. | C．Friends. | D．Colleagues. |
| A．They take full responsibility for building the nest. |
| B．They are much larger than female anemone fish. |
| C．They are actually extremely excellent fathers. |
| D．They frequently make attacks on other fishes. |
| A．The dad can’t tend to the young fish. |
| B．The young fish are already independent. |
| C．The living environment is worse. |
| D．The dad is in a state of aging. |
| A．The Model Father in the Animal Kingdom |
| B．The New Role of the Male Anemone Fish |
| C．The Really Caring Caregivers in Life |
| D．A Strange Phenomenon in Nature |
【推荐3】Reaching out to support a person when they’re under stress is always a good idea. In fact, a new study suggests that support could be especially important for someone whose genetic quality makes them more likely to develop depression. The study shows the importance of social support to buffer the risk r of developing depression symptoms in general.
The study uses data from two very different groups of people under stress: new doctors in the most intense year of training， and older adults whose beloved ones recently died. The finding shows greatest impact of social support in those with highest risk scores for depression.
Compared to other groups of individuals in the study who had low depression risk scores, the doctors and widows with higher risk scores had higher rates of depression after they lost social support, but also had lower rates of depression when they gained social support during stressful times.
Sen, who is the director of the Eisenberg Family Depression Center adds that even as genetic research reveals more of the DNA variation(变异) related to depression vulnerability, learning how that variation leads to depression is crucial. “Further understanding the different genetic maps associated with sensitivity to loss of social support, lack of sleep, excessive work stress and other risk factors could help us develop personalized guidance for depression prevention,” he said. “In the meantime, these findings reaffirm how important social connections, social support and individual sensitivity to the social environment areas factors in well-being and preventing depression.”
Besides, the data used in the study is based on people of European origin, which limits the ability to generalize the findings to people of other backgrounds. Sen noted that additional work is being done to collect scores based on depression-related genetic characteristics in other populations including people of East Asian and African blood.
1. What does the new study find?| A．Depression can be passed on among generations. |
| B．One is genetic quality is related to depression. |
| C．Social support can reduce genetic depression risk. |
| D．People without support tend.to feel depressed. |
| A．By collecting data. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By studying papers. | D．By doing experiments. |
| A．Tendency. | B．Weakness. | C．Awareness. | D．Reduction. |
| A．Depression will lead to DNA variation. |
| B．Genetic maps can guide us to well-being. |
| C．Further data are to be collected for the study. |
| D．Individual sensitivity is a great depression risk. |
【推荐1】Rich as a King
William I, who conquered England some 930 years ago, had wealth, power and an army. Yet although William was very rich by the standard of his time, he had nothing like a flush toilet (抽水马桶), or riding lawn mower (除草机). How did he get by ?
History books are filled with wealthy people who were poor compared to me. I have storm windows, Croesus did not. Entire nations trembled before Alexander the Great, but he couldn’ t buy cat food. Czar Nicholas lacked an electric saw.
Given how much better off I am than so many famous dead people, you’ d think I’d be content. The trouble is that, like most people, I compare my wealth with that of living persons: neighbors, school classmates, famous TV people. The greed I feel toward my friend Howard’ s new kitchen is not reduced by the fact no kings ever had a refrigerator with glass doors.
There is really no rising or falling standard of living. Over the centuries people simply find different things to feel sad about. You’ d think that simply not having disease would put us in a good mood, but no, we want a hot bath too.
Of course, one way to achieve happiness would be to realize that even by today’ s standards the things I own are pretty nice. My house is smaller than the houses of many investment bankers, but even so it has a lot more rooms than my wife and I can keep clean.
Besides, to people looking back at our era from a century or two in the future, these bankers’ fancy counter tops and my own worn Formica will seem equally shabby. I can’t keep up with my neighbors right now. But just wait.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1&2 ?| A．What a luxury life they once led! |
| B．There were so many great rulers in history. |
| C．They could easily gain wealth than average people. |
| D．They might not live in a satisfactory way in the eyes of the writer. |
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4 | D．5 |
| A．tell us to be content with life | B．encourage us to struggle for wealth |
| C．recommend living in a simple way | D．teach us to learn lessons from life |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Cautious. | C．Uncertain. | D．Positive. |
【推荐2】Created from natural materials such as mulberry leaves and bamboo, the earliest umbrella in China was used to protect themselves from dangers. Sometime in 1st century BC, first paper umbrellas appeared and they very quickly found their way to the hands of wealthy females who by then accepted the sun-shade umbrella as a necessary part of their fashion accessory (配件) like animals’ skin and fur. Even though carefully produced and delicate umbrellas from paper and silk weighed only few hundred grams, they were capable of protecting their bearers from the rain because of the special process of applying oil on their cover.
Because of their shortage and high cost, umbrellas quickly became a symbol of power in China and surrounding Asian countries. To differentiate themselves from the rest of the population, Chinese royal members carried only red or yellow umbrellas, while the rest used blue ones. As the centuries went on, the cost of Chinese umbrellas went down, which enabled them to be used by general population and even males. Personal use was not the only application for umbrellas, and many creative designs were introduced even as early as 3rd century AD.
Surrounding countries adopted the umbrella into their tradition, often showing beautiful designs and artwork with great pride, especially by royal members in Korea, Burma and Siam. Travelers from the West soon carried Chinese umbrellas to continental Europe which was just exiting Dark Ages and was eager to adopt new fashion from distant lands. Umbrellas soon took over the female nobility (贵族) in Italy, France and England, where they managed to slowly evolve umbrellas into the general accessory that is used by everyone today.
Even though modern plastic umbrellas represent the majority of worldwide sales, traditional Chinese umbrellas are still respected by many. They are always in great demand. Fujian and Hunan Provinces are still making millions of them every year and the most respected Hangzhou-style umbrellas are now known for their quality and beauty.
1. Why did people carry different umbrellas in China?| A．To follow new fashion then. |
| B．To indicate their social positon. |
| C．To show inequality of different sexes. |
| D．To advertise various styles of umbrellas. |
| A．They lack practical functions. |
| B．They have declined in sales for years. |
| C．They remain popular among people. |
| D．They will replace plastic umbrellas. |
| A．The history of umbrellas. |
| B．The popularity of umbrellas. |
| C．The various designs of umbrellas. |
| D．The major functions of umbrellas. |
【推荐3】Until decades ago, our visions of the future were largely positive. We thought science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity, leading to lives of fulfilment and opportunity for all. However, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from epidemic (流行病) flu to climate change, we might even tend to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.
Yet such depression is misplaced. The fossil record shows that many species have existed for millions of years — so why shouldn’t we? Take a look at our species in the universe, and it becomes clear we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens of thousands of years. Look up “Homo sapiens” (智人) in the “Red List” of threatened species of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature (IUCN), and you will read: “Listed as Least Concern because the species is widely distributed, adaptable, currently increasing, and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline.”
So what does our deep future hold? Many researchers and organizations are now thinking seriously about the question. The potential evolution of today’s technology is complicated, so it’s perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the possibilities of the bright future.
Our future is quite rosy because it shows many promising possibilities of achievement. Besides, we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans and to improve those to come. Take a longer view and we can say with considerable assurance that the past holds the key to the future: by analysing the past, we can make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants (后代) will find themselves.
1. According to the passage, what inspired our visions of the future in the past?| A．The desire for lives of fulfilment. |
| B．The belief in equal opportunity. |
| C．The deep appreciation of threats. |
| D．The faith in science and technology. |
| A．Dangerous. |
| B．Annoying. |
| C．Hopeful. |
| D．Undisturbed. |
| A．Explore our planet’s abundant resources. |
| B．Draw upon our experience from the past. |
| C．Build our ambition to reshape history. |
| D．Increase the population of the world. |
| A．The bright and promising future of mankind |
| B．Science and technology connected with humans |
| C．The fully and highly evolved human species |
| D．Different researches conducted on our future |
