The topic of China’s “slash youth” has fueled heated debate on social media recently, drawing attention to the diverse pursuits of the younger generation.
The slash youth, which could also be called slashers or slash-generation means those who refuse to be defined or bound by just one personal identity. They are keen to present themselves as multiple and sometimes distinct identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and stand-up comedian, and an engineer and band player. Rather than material comforts, they pursue meaningful achievements.
A study on “slash youth” published in the China Youth Research magazine analyzes the background of this phenomenon: with part of modern society’s structured organization and stability norms are broken, flexible labor markets and structural unemployment has emerged, eliminating the sense of job security of the young people in employment. Young people also face the dilemma of self-actualization, including the sense of powerlessness, lost sense of value and lack of self-identity in the profession, which forces them to re-find the meaning of work.
“The ‘slash life’ shows that our society is becoming more and more diversified and inclusive and it welcomes everyone’s self fulfillment,” said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. The researcher added that against the background that people have multiple interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the “slash life” of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy, just as animation culture affected the market.
1. Which is true about the slash youth?| A．Tending to pursue meaningful achievements. |
| B．Enjoying posting themselves on social media. |
| C．Adjusting themselves to challenges in life. |
| D．Refusing to undertake multiple careers. |
| A．The significance of flexible labor markets. |
| B．Reasons for the appearance of slash youth. |
| C．Young people’s interest in their profession. |
| D．Causes of losing power among the youth. |
| A．It can gain people’s independence. |
| B．It inspires young people’s creativity. |
| C．It can pick up an economic growth. |
| D．It enables young people to earn high. |
| A．To provide latest career guidance. |
| B．To introduce a social phenomenon. |
| C．To analyze a new cultural difference. |
| D．To highlight a unique life experience. |
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【推荐1】We’ve all done it. We buy something we think we like and then change our minds about it. Whether panic buying, an impulse purchase or shopper’s remorse, we’re fortunate many companies allow us to easily exchange or refund items. In fact it’s so easy these days that retailers are seeing an increase in a new type of shopper: the serial returner.
A serial returner is someone who buys items, often in bulk, only to return most of them. Hester Grainger, 41, founder of Mumala Club, estimates spending £300 to £400 each month on clothes, but returning “around 80%”. This isn’t unique. Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, says that in the last two years 26% of retailers have seen an increase in in-store and online returns—with the number of items being sent back up by 22%.
It’s a problem for companies. Handling these returns eats into profits. Free delivery for the customer means the company foots the bill. Items may need to be repackaged. They are damaged—making them unfit for resale. Tony Mannix, CEO of Clipper, a logistics firm that handles returned goods for major retailers, said about 5% of them end up “being binned”. Sometimes the fast fashion cycle has moved on. By the time the item comes back, it becomes a cut-price (降价出售的) item on a reduced-to-clear (清仓减价) rail—at further loss to the company.
Some companies are taking action to deter this behaviour. Four in ten retailers now say they charge for returns to discourage the sending of non-faulty items. Online retail giant Amazon was reported to have started barring customers with too many returned items. This is something a study by retail management system Brightpearl found over half of UK fashion retailers would consider. And Barclaycard says a third of retailers have hiked their prices to cover these returns.
But Vicky Brock, director of data innovation at ReBound Returns, a returns management software system, believes this isn’t the best strategy. She says discouraging returns shows a lack of understanding by the retailer. Using data, companies can reduce returns by helping customers choose better. Some companies already provide a suggested size based on the customer’s previous purchases and information on height and weight. Ultimately, she says, returns are now as much a part of the shopping experience as buying things, and shops need to take this into consideration.
1. The underlined word “binned” in paragraph 3 is similar in meaning to “________”.| A．banned | B．devalued | C．thrown away | D．replaced |
① raise the prices greatly
②bar the customers who have returned products too frequently
③ cover the costs of returns with the revenues
④ask for fees of returns
⑤ provide discounts for customers with few return records
| A．①②④ | B．②③ | C．①④ | D．②④⑤ |
| A．If companies help customers make wiser decisions, the rate of returns will decline. |
| B．Discouraging returns shows retailers’ deep understanding of the rule of marketing. |
| C．Shops can make use of the data of returns to help enhance the customer experience. |
| D．Making purchases and being charged for returns play an important part in customers’ shopping experience. |
【推荐2】It’s unlikely that you come home from a trip and stand on top of your bed still wearing your street shoes. For some travellers, putting their suitcase on their bed is just as disgusting (令人反感的). The wheels of our luggage paced the same soiled path as our shoes, rolling through airport bathrooms, sidewalks and public transportation.
While it might sound terrible to put a worldly bag on your bed, is it actually harmful to your health? According to Phyllis Kozarsky, an expert travel health consultant, most public health professionals don’t consider luggage a major transmitter (传播者) of disease.
“We have not identified outbreaks related to dirty luggage,” Kozarsky says. Travellers may benefit from cleaning their luggage if they suspect that their hotel rooms are overrun with bedbugs. “Then they certainly would benefit by cleaning it after they returned home,” Kozarsky says.
Even if your luggage touching your bed won’t hurt you, you might still be disgusted. After all, travel is an experience full of bacteria. “You have people... carrying all types of different bacteria. Some of them are sick, and you now have them populating these public travel places,” says Colleen Costello, CEO of Vital Vio, a company that makes antibacterial LED lights. Your fellow travellers have to touch all the same things you have to touch, from the TSA checkpoint to the airplane, the train ticketing machine to the handrail in your train car.
For peace of mind, Costello recommends giving your bag a quick disinfection or storing it on a luggage shelf. Of course, you could go beyond disinfecting your luggage wheels and clean thoroughly the rest of your travel experience — the airplane tray table, hotel room door and remote control.
But Kozarsky doesn’t guarantee that lifestyle. “It’s hard to keep up with every doorhandle, every railing,” Kozarsky says. “You can become a little neurotic (神经质的) that way.”
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To predict the conclusion. | B．To present the argument. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To describe the phenomenon. |
| A．Luggage touching your bed won’t hurt you. | B．Luggage spreads disease through your bed. |
| C．It’s a must to clean your luggage after travelling. | D．Travellers should be careful of on-way dangers. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By stating facts. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By listing figures. |
| A．It has gone too far. | B．It’s absolutely worthless. |
| C．It sounds somewhat reasonable. | D．It’s worth taking into consideration. |
【推荐3】Do you prefer to watch TV or listen to the radio? There was a time when some people thought moving pictures beamed live into our houses would spell the end of tuning in to the radio for entertainment and information. But radio survived and flourished. And now, despite the growth in sophisticated smartphones offering high-definition pictures, the popularity of podcasts (播客) is booming.
Perhaps the growth in podcasting is not surprising — it offers a digital audio file that can be downloaded and stored for listening at any time. It can also be streamed from the Internet and played on a computer or MP3 player. And it’s not just broadcasters, like the BBC, who are producing podcasts: now commercial broadcasters, individuals and companies with no connection to broadcasting are making them. In fact, anyone with something to say, and a few pounds to spend on the equipment, can get involved.
But where did this trend for making portable audio programmers begin? Journalist Ben Hammersley told the BBC that “two changes transformed the market — one cultural and one technical”. Apple launched the iPhone podcast app, recording and editing equipment became cheaper, and 4G mobile phone connections and Wi-Fi became widespread.
Technological development has driven many changes in our media consumption habits. But however good the tech may be, there still needs to be something worth watching or listening to. The BBC’s Jamie Robertson writes that for podcasts, Serial — a piece of non-fiction investigative journalism — captured people’s imagination. It was a piece of high-quality audio with a gripping story. To date, the first and second seasons of the show have had more than 340 million downloads. Advertisers soon realized the money-making potential of this and other successful podcasts.
Now there are podcasts about anything and everything — even the educational content that BBC Learning English offers! And these aural treats are available on a wide range of platforms. Audiences are very specific, which can help advertisers target what they want to promote.
1. What can be done with a digital audio file?| A．It can be played without power. |
| B．It can be used to make phone calls. |
| C．It can offer high-definition pictures. |
| D．It can be downloaded and stored for listening at any time. |
| A．The cost of making a blog is low. |
| B．It can be streamed from the Internet. |
| C．It can be played on a computer or MP3 player. |
| D．Making a podcast doesn’t require any technology. |
| A．Dull. | B．Attractive. | C．Ordinary. | D．Horrible. |
| A．It’s uncertain. | B．It will be promising. |
| C．It will be miserable. | D．It won’t be outstanding. |
【推荐1】What if the Moon had never existed? For starters we know that the geophysical and climatological history of the Earth would have been different. Although there is still large uncertainty about how the Moon was formed, the most currently favored theory describes a disastrous collision between the Earth and another planetary object.
That event forever changed many aspects of the Earth's evolution. For example, with a relatively large natural satellite putting gravitational tidal forces (潮汐力) on it, the Earth's spin behavior has been quite different than it would have been otherwise. Day length has increased more rapidly than without a moon. And the natural changes in the direction of the Earth's spin axis (轴)-its poles-have been less than they would have been otherwise. A shorter day length and axial variations like these would have changed the Earth's climate history, and almost certainly have changed the way any life evolved.
But if a species like us had still appeared, its landscape for space exploration would also have been completely different. Without a large natural satellite, a mere quarter of a million miles away, there would have been no "easy" trip to make to another world. If there had been a first human mission to another world, it would likely have been to Mars. But this would surely have called for far more extensive designing of spacecraft and life-support systems for deep space. Perhaps instead the initial focus would have been entirely on Earth-orbiting equipment for people and robotic missions to other worlds. Or, maybe the attraction of the seemingly near impossible would still have encouraged these humans from an alternate reality to take the great leap to Mars as their first step outwards.
It is of course, impossible to know exactly what our world would really be like without the Moon-both physically, and in terms of human exploration. But one thing does seem clear: we probably take our natural satellite's existence far too much for granted. Not every inhabited planet in the universe will have its own ready-made gateway to the universe.
1. Why does the author use the question at the very beginning?| A．To introduce the widely accepted theory. | B．To mention the destructive collision. |
| C．To prove a wrong assumption. | D．To attract readers' interest. |
| A．Compare day lengths in different climates. |
| B．Introduce the evolution of life on the Earth. |
| C．Explain why the Earth's spin behavior remains. |
| D．Show how the Moon greatly influences the Earth. |
| A．The Earth's evolution. | B．The mission to Mars. |
| C．The trip to the Moon. | D．Earth-orbiting equipment. |
| A．To call on people to study the Earth. |
| B．To stress the significance of the Moon. |
| C．To speak highly of human exploration. |
| D．To prove assumptions about moonless Earth. |
【推荐2】Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal, or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasise the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example,business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work,it is necessary to spend a lot of time in“small talk”, usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realised that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a better chance to us to understand and learn from each other.
1. What’s the benefit of eating together at restaurants in some countries according to this passage?| A．People can develop closer relations. | B．People can share the same culture. |
| C．People can get to know each other. | D．People can keep each other company. |
| A．To show the English prefer to make long speeches. |
| B．To show too many words are of no use. |
| C．To show people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature. |
| D．To show even talk and silence can be culturally different. |
| A．By sharing different ways of life. | B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By recognising different values. | D．By speaking each other’s languages. |
| A．Multicultural Environment | B．Cross-cultural Differences |
| C．How to Understand Each Other | D．How to Build up a Relationship |
【推荐3】Often considered as “The Lost City of the Incas”, Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire (印加帝国). It was built around the year 1450, but abandoned (遗弃) a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. It was announced a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. But it has recently come to light that the site may have been discovered and robbed secretly as early as in 1867 by a Ger-man businessman, Augusto Berns.
7,000 feet above sea level and located on a small hilltop between the Andean Mountain Range, the majestic city rises above the Urabamba Valley below. Separated into three areas — farming, urban, and religious (宗教的) — the structures are arranged so that the function (功能) of the buildings matches the form of their surroundings. The agri-cultural terracing and ditches (梯田和沟渠) take advantage of the natural slopes (斜坡); the lower areas contain buildings occupied by farmers and teachers, and the most important religious areas are located at the crest of the hill, over-looking the fresh green Urabamba Valley thousands of feet below.
Hikers, tourists, and the early explorers describe similar emotions as they climb their way through the Inca Trail. Many call the experience magical and say the area creates a wonderful green paradise, making it a must for anyone who travels to Peru.
1. Augusto Berns was said to ______.| A．report his find to the government at the first time |
| B．be the first one who discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu |
| C．help make Machu Picchu a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| D．work together with Bingham on research about Machu Picchu |
| A．Hiram Bingham found the ruins |
| B．Spanish conquered the Inca Empire |
| C．it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| D．Augusto Berns’s work was known to the public |
| A．bottom | B．centre |
| C．valley | D．top |
