【推荐1】The Internet is changing the way we communicate. LOL, awks, amazeballs, BRB, the use of emoji and emoticon — and even writing facial expressions such as ‘sad face’ — have all become standard in digital communications. So ingrained, in fact, that they’re changing the way we write and even talk.

“People are becoming less concerned with grammar, spelling and sentence structure, and more concerned with getting their message across,” says Gavin Hammar, CEO and founder of Sendible.

There’s no doubt that the consumption of abbreviated digital content is having a huge effect on language. “Over the last five years attention spans have shortened considerably, which is reflected in the contracted forms of language we see in social media,” says Robin Kermode, founder of communications coaching consultancy Zone2.

However, some think that the internet has made us better communicators since we increasingly use much more streamlined language. “To get a message across using Twitter for example, it must be concise and must conform to the tone used there, which includes abbreviations, acronyms.”

The fastest growing ‘new language’ in the world is emoticons (faces) and emojis (images of objects, which hail from Japan), which are one of the biggest changes caused by digital communications. “Facial expressions, visual presence and body language have always been vital to being a confident speaker, but now emojis are blurring the lines between verbal and written communication,” thinks Kermode, who adds that cavemen had early versions of emojis on the sides of their caves. “Pictures, cartoons or emojis are ‘shortcuts’ so we can be clear about what our message really means.”

If you mainly use emojis, why not get a keyboard-based around smiley faces and cartoon icons? That’s exactly what Swyft Media recently created, and while it’s more of a PR stunt the keyboards of the future will probably contain at least some emojis.

Emoticons and emojis are arguably more meaningful than slang and shorthand, which can be too easily misunderstood. “I once witnessed a girl being dumped in a text, which consisted of a message with just five letters, U R MY X’ — linguistically economic, but emotionally harsh,” says Kermode. Trouble is, the sender had actually meant YOU ARE MINE. X’. “If he’d added three emojis — like a smiley face, a heart and a wedding ring, he might now be happily married!”

The same goes for a statement such as “I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU RIGHT NOW”, which needs a qualifying emoticon or emoji to give it meaning. “It could signal an angry meeting or a passionate meeting but add a coffee cup, a big smiley face or an angry face and it becomes clear what’s really going on,” says Kermode.

They may be derided by traditionalists, but emoticons and emojis used to describe mood are the body language add-on that the written word has always lacked. In most instances, these icons represent language evolution and progress, not regression.

1. What does the word “ingrained” in paragraph 1 most probably mean?

A．Deep-rooted.

B．Long-lasting.

C．Well-equipped.

D．Single-minded.

2. Which of the following statement correctly interprets the underlined sentence but now emojis are blurring the lines between verbal and written communication in paragraph 5?

A．Emojis are mixing up the spoken words and the written words in our daily conversations.

B．Emojis are making the differences between spoken and written communication less clear.

C．Emojis are in line with spoken and written expressions.

D．Emojis are helping spoken and written communication become more straight-forward.

3. Which of the following statement is Not True?

A．People are more concerned with getting their message across rather than grammar, spelling or sentence structure.

B．The Internet has made us better communicators because we are increasingly using more streamlined and concise language.

C．Emoticons and emojis can be used to describe the mood of communicators and clarify the real meaning of their message.

D．Using emojis can sometimes make the process of decoding meanings more difficult in real-life contexts.

4. What Can Not be learned from the passage?

A．The Internet is changing the way we communicate.

B．With images of facial expressions or objects, emoticons and emojis can be used to vividly describe mood, and thus help avoid misunderstanding.

C．Emoticons and emojis are the fastest growing “new language” and keyboards of the future will probably contain some of them.

D．Emoticons and emojis add needless meanings to language and cause misunderstandings.

【推荐2】In spite of “endless talk of difference”, American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. This includes the uniformity in clothing and communication, as well as the casualness and lack of respect seen in popular culture. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption” launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered a wide range of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of fancy shops catering to the upper-class, these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background.” This turned shopping into a public and democratic (民主的) act. The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization.

Immigrants are quickly adapting to this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today’s immigration is neither at remarkable levels nor resistant to assimilation (融合). In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indicators of assimilation — language, home ownership and intermarriage.

The 1990 Census revealed that “a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most common countries of origin spoke English ‘well’ or ‘very well’ after ten years of residence.” The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual (双语的) and good at English. “By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.” Hence, America is described as a “graveyard” for languages. By 1996 foreign-born immigrants who had arrived before 1970 had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans. Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics “have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S.-born whites and blacks.” By the third generation, one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians.

Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United States are not influenced by the nation’s assimilative power.”

Are there divisive issues and anger in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against America’s troubled past, today’s social Indicators hardly suggest a dark and worsening social environment.

1. The underlined phrase in paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A．making people adapt to American consumption culture

B．encouraging people to embrace a democratic lifestyle

C．encouraging people to stick to their own ideas and principles

D．making people behave more similarly in many aspects

2. According to the passage, what can be inferred about the immigrants now in the U.S.?

A．Their adaptation to the common culture is quick but harmful to the society.

B．The scale of immigration is not big and the immigrants welcome American culture.

C．Their children are good at both English and their original language.

D．Hispanic and Asian-American women both prefer to marry native-born Americans.

3. The author mentions Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks in paragraph 4 to ________.

A．provide examples of successful immigrants

B．suggest the weakness of America’s assimilative power

C．show the powerful influence of American culture

D．prove their popularity at home and abroad

4. What is the author’s general attitude towards the cultural assimilation in American society?

A．Optimistic.

B．Concerned.

C．Neutral.

D．Negative.

【推荐2】Scientists recently discovered that pictures on cave walls at Creswell Crags are the oldest known in Great Britain. But they didn’t find out in the usual way.

Archaeologists (考古学家) often date cave art with a process called radiocarbon dating. The technique can measure the age of carbon found in charcoal (木炭) drawings or painted pictures. Carbon is an element found in many things, including charcoal and even people. But in this case, there was no paint or charcoal to test. People carved the pictures of animals and figures into the rock using stone tools. The scientists had an “aha!” moment when they noticed small rocks stuck to the top of the drawings. The small rocks must have formed after the drawings were made.

“It is rare to be able to scientifically date rock art,” said Alistair Pike, an archaeological scientist at Britain’s University of Bristol. “We were very fortunate that some of the engravings (雕刻) were covered by stalagmites (石笋).”

When a test proved that the stalagmites formed 12,800 years ago, the scientists knew the art underneath them had to be at least that old. And some of the animals shown are now extinct — another clue that the art is quite old.

The artists came to Creswell Crags. This place is one of the farthest points north reached by our ancient ancestors during the Ice Age. At that time, much of the North Sea was dry, so people could move about more easily.

Some tools and bones found there are 13,000 to 15,000 years old. They show that the travelers hunted horses, reindeer, and arctic hares. Their artwork is similar to art in France and Germany. It tells scientists that the Creswell Crags artists must have had a close connection to peoples several thousand kilometers away — another important evidence of understanding how humans spread out across the world.

1. How did the scientists feel when they found rocks on the top of the drawings?

A．Fairly confusing.	B．Pleasantly surprised.
C．Completely satisfied.	D．Extremely proud.

2. Why do scientists say the art is quite old?

A．Some pictures were covered by stalagmites formed long ago.

B．The majority of the animals carved into the stone are extinct.

C．The cave is one of the farthest points in the world.

D．The art was carved into the stone with stone tools.

3. What can scientists learn about by studying the cave art?

A．How ancient people crossed the North Sea.

B．Why some of the animals have died out.

C．How humans spread out across the world.

D．What ancient people had for food at that time.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Cave Art About Animals Is Most Beautiful

B．Cave Art Is Found In the Usual Way

C．Cave Art Turns Out to Be Britain’s Oldest

D．Cave Art Has a Great Influence on Britain

【推荐3】Nile crocodiles are uniquely sensitive to the cries of painful primate (灵长类) babies, according to a new study — and the more anxious the cry, the more interested they become. To make the find, Nicolas Grimault, a scientist at the University of Lyon, and his colleagues visited a zoo in Morocco, which houses more than 300 Nile crocodiles. The researchers set up loudspeakers alongside four ponds where, at each, as many as 25 crocodiles sunbathed on red rocks. The speakers played a series of cries expressing varying levels of pain from primate babies. The cries were recorded in different situations to find out which aspects of the voices interest the crocs most.

Many of the crocs, male and female, responded to the cries by suddenly turning their heads, seeking out the source of the sound, rapidly approaching the loudspeaker and sometimes even biting it. One individual even showed protective behavior by positioning in front of the speaker as if to defend it from others. Interestingly, their response depended on the characteristics of the cries they heard: crocs were more likely to react to recordings with acoustic (声音的) features closely related to very upset babies, such as sudden changes and disharmony in frequency, smoothness and tones.

When the researchers asked human volunteers, all of whom had experience with human babies, to listen to the same recorded cries and estimate the level of pain, the participants used different features than the crocs did to evaluate the sounds, basing their decisions largely on the pitch of the cries — how high or low a sound is. But it varies among individuals and across species. That makes it less reliable and accurate than the alternative acoustic clues picked up on by crocodiles.

The findings of the study raise the possibility that emotion may be communicated across species lines in more ways than scientists thought. As Grimault puts it, “If crocs can do it, probably many other animals can do it, too.”

1. Why are the cries collected from different situations played?

A．To discover which crocodiles are smart.	B．To identify what appeals to crocodiles.
C．To develop how to protect crocodiles.	D．To record when crocodiles interact.

2. How do most of the crocodiles respond to baby’ cries?

A．Guarding the speakers.	B．Sunbathing on the rocks.
C．Attacking other crocodiles.	D．Moving towards the sound.

3. Which of the following belongs to “alternative acoustic clues” in paragraph 3?

A．The volume of sound.	B．The source of the cries.
C．The evenness of tone.	D．The pitch of the voice.

4. Which statement would Grimault probably agree with?

A．Humans are sensitive to voices of other species.

B．Emotions may be shared beyond species borders.

C．Crocs tend to be friendly to babies of any species.

D．Cross-species communication is an unfading skill.

【推荐1】It’s safe to say Yellowstone National Park is still looking good at the ripe old age of 150. The park, which stretches into Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, is known for its unique natural scenery, bountiful wildlife, and deep history. It also helped usher (引领) in the broader national park movement in the U.S., according to Chuck Sams, the director of the National Park Service.

“We now celebrate something much bigger than the park itself —the beginning of the national park idea, an idea that spread through the country and around the world, inspiring governments to protect natural and cultural treasures ‘for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,’” he said in a statement.

Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states. Bears, wolves, coyotes, moose, and a large population of small animals can be found in the park. It’s also the only place in the U.S. where bison (野牛) have lived continuously since prehistoric limes. It was looking risky for a period in the 1900s, when die animal was hunted down from a previous high of tens of thousands to less than two dozen. This bison conservation effort continues to this day.

Yellowstone shut its gates in March 2020 due to coronavirus concerns and remained closed for nearly two months. But the park broke attendance records after it reopened. The park reported 4.9 million recreation visits in 2021 — up 28% from 2020 and making it the busiest year on record, July 2021 was die most-visited month in Yellowstone’s history and the first lime visitation exceeded l million visits in a single month. It’s Yellowstone’s natural beauty and deep history that brings millions of visitors each year.

“Yellowstone’s 150th anniversary will be an important moment in time for the world,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly. “It’s an opportunity for us to reflect on the lessons of the old days while focusing our efforts to strengthen Yellowstone and our many partnerships for the future.”

1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly tell us about Yellowstone National Park?

A．Its vast area.	B．Its long history.
C．Its significant role.	D．Its fantastic views.

2. What is a direct result of the bison conservation effort?

A．An increase in the park’s income.	B．A growth in bison population.
C．Damage to local ecology.	D．Improvement of species richness.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards increasing tourists?

A．Positive.

B．Unclear.

C．Disapproving.

D．Concerned.

4. What does Sholly say about Yellowstone’s 150th anniversary?

A．It reminds participants to strive for a shared future.

B．It leads people to rethink the idea of the park.

C．Its celebration mil take place as scheduled.

D．Its past shows long-term conservation efforts count.

【推荐2】A new study suggests that early exposure to germs (细菌) strengthens the immune (免疫的) system. That means letting children get a little dirty might be good for their health later in life.

The study involved laboratory mice. It found that adult mice raised in a germ-free environment were more likely to develop allergies, asthma (气喘) and other autoimmune disorders. There are more than eighty disorders where cells that normally defend the body instead attack tissues and organs.

Richard Blumberg, who led the study, is a professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He says, in 1989, medical researchers who sought to explain these diseases, first discovered that the increasing use of antibacterial soaps and other products, especially early in life, could weaken immune systems.

Now, Dr. Blumberg and his team have what is the first biological evidence to link early exposure to germs to stronger adult immune systems. They say this exposure could prevent the development of some autoimmune diseases.

In the adult germ-free mice, they found that inflammation (发炎) in the lungs and colon (结肠) was caused by so-called killer T cells. These normally fight infection. But they became overactive and targeted healthy tissue—an autoimmune condition seen in asthma and a disease called ulcerative colitis (溃疡性结肠炎).

Dr. Blumberg says the mice raised in a normal environment did not have the same reaction. He says their immune systems had been “educated” by early exposure to germs.

Rates of autoimmune disorders are rising worldwide, but mostly in wealthier, industrialized countries. According to Dr. Blumberg, it might be high time that people were warned to be more careful with the early use of antibiotics (抗生素) and the prescription from their doctors.

Rob Dunn is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He says the new study does not mean people should stop washing. “Wash your hands, but don’t do it with antibacterial soap. Let your kids play in a reasonable amount of dirt and get outside and get exposed to a diversity of things”, says Rob Dunn.

1. Who first found immune systems might get harmed by overly using antibacterial products?

A．A professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

B．A professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

C．Medical researchers who tried to explain autoimmune disorders.

D．Medical researchers who tried to treat autoimmune disorders.

2. To keep healthy in the future, children had better ________.

A．play in a dirty environment once in a while	B．live in a germ-free environment
C．use plenty of antibacterial soaps	D．stay in under developed countries

3. Why are germ-free mice easy to develop lung inflammation?

A．Because their T cell fight bacteria effectively.

B．Because their T cells attack the healthy tissues.

C．Because their lungs become abnormally active.

D．Because their lungs have weaker tissues.

4. It can be inferred from the text that________.

A．washing hands is no longer a good habit for children

B．antibiotics will be forbidden in children’s hospitals

C．exposure to dirt helps build children’s character

D．the abuse of antibiotics may be condemned

5. Where does this text most probably come from?

A．A teacher’s handbook.	B．A story book.
C．A science magazine.	D．A travel journal