【推荐1】Does Using Technology in the Classroom Help College Students?

Almost anywhere in the world, you are likely to find people doing the same thing in public places, on trains and buses or wherever else you look. They spend their day looking at laptop computers, smartphones or other personal electronic devices. They are thinking mainly about their electronic devices, and not much else.

    1    . More and more college students have no problem walking into a classroom and immediately opening their laptops. Others may spend an entire study period with a smartphone in hand.     2     But recent research suggests that using technology during class time may harm college students’ ability to remember and process the subject material they are learning.

Arnold Glass, a professor in Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a student researcher investigated the issue of divided student attention. During half of their daily class periods, the students in their study were permitted to use any electronic device as much as they wanted.     3    

The students’ academic performance was measured in several ways throughout the semester. They took a short test every day, longer tests every few weeks and a final exam covering all the class material. The researchers found that the average daily quiz results showed no evidence of harmful effects from the use of technology.     4     They showed that all the students performed poorly on questions covering material taught on days when they were permitted to use technology in the classroom.

Glass says that it shows the use of electronic devices in the classroom prevents students from processing information. The students hear what the professor is saying. But they might be buying things online or reading unrelated emails at the same time, for example. So they are not thinking deeply about the subject matter as they are hearing it.     5    

A．The same can be said about the world of college education.

B．However, the average results of the larger tests and final exam told a different story.

C．And that, Glass says, makes it harder for the information to enter their long-term memory.

D．Technology, in general, is not the only way that students find to distract themselves in class.

E．But even if technology is helpful to some students, there are times when it needs to be turned off.

F．Some students argue that the increasing use of technology can have many helpful effects on society.

G．During the other half, researchers closely watched them to make sure no one was using any technology.

【推荐3】Widespread descriptions of animals in pop culture could actually be hurting the animals’ survival chances in the wild, new research suggests.

Franck Courchamp of the University of Paris-Sud was interested in the idea of “charisma”(魅力) in animals. He wanted to know: What species do people consider charismatic? And what are the influences of being charismatic on populations in the wild?

In a research published this month, Courchamp and other researchers list the top 20 charismatic species. Most of the animals identified as charismatic are large mammals living on land. Coming in first place were tigers, followed by lions, elephants, giraffes, panthers, pandas, cheetahs, polar bears, wolves, and gorillas. However, at least half of the interviewees didn’t realize that five of the top ten most charismatic species are threatened. It is paradoxical that we haven’t been able to protect the species we care about the most.

The study also found that we are flooded with images of these creatures, even as they are becoming fewer in the wild. The study suggests that too much of imagery might be creating a “virtual(虚拟的) population” of the animals in peoples’ minds, making them believe there are far more individuals in the wild than is exact.

The study authors suggest that companies who benefit from the use of these images should set aside a small percentage of their profits to protection efforts and informational campaigns (运动). “That would be not only something fair, but that would be something that could bring a win-win situation for them,” Courchamp says. It could bring them positive public relation, for example. Besides, if a company’s mascot(吉祥物) goes extinct, that could hurt them from a marketing standpoint, Courchamp says. Some companies do take this to heart, he says, noting protection efforts by Jaguar and Lacoste. But not enough companies are “truly concerned about the protection of the species that they work on,” he adds.

1. It can be inferred that the widespread images of animals in pop culture ______.

A．leads people to forget the less charismatic animals

B．makes a false impression of the animals’ real situation

C．raises people’s wildlife protection attention and efforts

D．brings a win-win situation for both animals and companies

2. What does the writer mean by saying the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3?

A．It is important to protect these endangered species.

B．It is natural to regard the large mammals as charismatic.

C．It is terrible that the species are dying out at an alarming speed.

D．It is strange that people’s thoughts contrast with their behaviors.

3. Courchamp lists the companies’ responsibilities and their advantages by ______.

A．giving examples	B．taking quotes
C．making comparisons	D．using numbers

4. What’s Courchamp’s attitude to the companies benefiting from animal images?

A．Annoyed.	B．Supportive.
C．Dissatisfied.	D．Positive.

【推荐1】For many, scientific innovations tend to be welcome advancements that improve our lives. For some, however, new technologies bring risk of uselessness, in turn leading to great resistance.

With the climate crisis unfolding before our eyes, the race is on to find alternatives that will help humanity leave a smaller footprint on our planet. Because of animal agriculture's leading role as a greenhouse gas emitter, the search for more sustainable protein sources could be one such alternative.

As food tech companies use science to unlock the potential of plant proteins, they're producing increasingly better plant-based meats and milks that look and taste like the real thing, but with a much lower carbon footprint. Some in the meat industry are supporting the new and investing in these alt-protein companies.

For some lawmakers, however, these innovative products don't deserve support; they deserve restriction. Missouri State, for example, recently passed a bill making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for companies to call their products ''meat'' if they don’t come from an animal.

So why the mania (狂热) over meat and milk all of a sudden? Was there a consumer who brought home some pies labeled ''plant-based meat'' only to realize he was tricked? Did confused milk-drinkers file complaints with the Department of Agriculture when they found out their soymilk didn't contain actual milk?

There really are some consumers who are truly confused. Surveys show, however, that number is remarkably small. If anything, consumers are choosing these plant-based products specifically because they think they're better for them than the original products. And they have good reason to believe that plant-based milks and meats   usually have less fat and more fiber than comparable animal-based foods.

So, consumers aren't confusing ''veggie bacon'' for real bacon; and if they don't think chicken nuggets have the same nutritional value as ''chicken-free nuggets'', then why do some meat and milk groups want a monopoly (垄断) over the M-words? Could it have to do with the fact that the increasing popularity of these foods, which are more sustainable and better for you, is threatening the profits of their constituents?

And with the future of our civilization hanging in the balance as climate change becomes more severe, it's time for policy makers to stop trying to prevent innovation, and instead to celebrate all the ways science can save us, including with sustainable proteins that can and do produce new kinds of meat.

1. What can be learned about the M-word applied to plant-based substitutes?

A．They are environmentally friendly.

B．They are innovative and widely accepted.

C．They have been restricted across America.

D．They have been produced in large quantities.

2. From the passage we can learn that consumers ______.

A．have sufficient faith in new science and technology

B．prefer the original products to the plant-based products

C．buy the plant-based products for their great benefit to health

D．often get confused by the composition of the new kind of meat

3. According to the author, some people resist the new kind of food probably because _____.

A．it contains no real meat

B．it brings risks to society

C．it plays a trick on customers

D．it poses a threat to their profits

4. What's the author's attitude towards the plant-based products?

A．Supportive.	B．Cautious.
C．Ambiguous.	D．Disapproving

【推荐2】Do you like shopping? For shopaholics in the UK, the place to head to used to be the “high street”. It was the place where you could find familiar fashion brands and essential everyday items in the centre of a town. But change in our shopping habits has taken its toll on the British high street.

News about shops losing money and shutting is now common. Some city-centre department stores have closed and even long-established retailers (零售商) have reported profit slumps. According to a recent survey, a record 2,481 shops disappeared from UK high streets last year — up by 40 percent.

As the BBC’s Emma Simpson writes, things have become a lot harder for traditional retailers in recent years. They have faced rising costs from wages, business rates and the requirement to introduce Europe’s new data law. But the biggest threat has come from online shopping. She says “Consumers now spend one in every five pounds online — and if businesses are seeing 20 percent fewer sales on the shop floor, as well as their fixed costs rising, then profit margins will be squeezed.”

While some of us like to window shop — browsing for things to buy, only to purchase them online at a discount — the fact is that, overall, shoppers are making fewer visits to high streets. Eventually, town centres could become like ghost towns. If people aren’t out and about shopping, they won't use other services, like cafes, restaurants and cinemas, which leads to job losses. The high street has also suffered from the arrival of big shopping malls, which offer a retail experience under one roof, with free parking, away from the bad weather!

Meanwhile, back on the high street, some shops still exist. Analysts have said it's those that have moved away from traditional retailing that are surviving. These include beauty salons, nail bars and independent coffee shops — but are these kinds of shops enough to keep the British high street open for business?

1. What do we know about “high street” according to the passage?

A．It sold only fashionable daily items.

B．It has changed people’s shopping habits.

C．It was a big shopping mall in downtown Britain.

D．It was the destination for people who love shopping in the UK.

2. Which is closest in meaning to the underlined word “slumps”?

A．Sharp fall.	B．Steady rise.
C．Slow increase.	D．Slight loss.

3. What’s the hardest part for traditional shop owners to run their shops?

A．The rising costs from wages.

B．The boom of window shopping.

C．The popularity of shopping online,

D．The introduction of Europe’s new data law.

4. What change is taking place in the British high street at present?

A．Discounts are offered to attract more consumers.

B．Parking is free of charge in time of bad weather.

C．Better service is provided to satisfy the customers.

D．Some conventional retailer turn to other businesses.